Who Framed Ronald Stoppable?
by XyKPfan
Summary: We thought we'd never see the day. Ron Stoppable going to jail? Now Kim will need more than her Juris Doctor degree and her years of crime fighting experience. She'll need the help of her friends, family, and a little bit of faith to get out of this sitch
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey Everyone! This idea has been nagging at me for months and it just won't go away! So, I decided to just put this out there so it will leave me alone. Wasn't supposed to be but, I guess I'll make it my first Kim Possible Book Story. The others kinda went away for a while. So this one's gonna be first. Anyway, I know you're anxious to read this so I'll just shut up and let you read.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you _Who Framed Ronald Stoppable?_

I do not own Kim Possible. Don't ask me who owns it because you know. And if you don't, it's the Disney Corp. Okay? Bottom line is I don't own Kim Possible. So put away all the lawsuits and cases. There's no need to sue me. I did nothing wrong.

* * *

Kim sighed softly as she nestled herself into Ron's chest. She closed her eyes in content as her fingers began to dance along his chest.

"Ronnie, are you sure the kids are asleep?"

Ron nodded.

"Yep. JJ stuffed himself silly with Nacos, I played all of AJ favorite games today, CC played Barbies all day, and JT been asleep since early morning. An earthquake couldn't wake them up."

Kim placed her head on Ron's shoulder as she settled down for some serious snuggle time with her husband.

"That's good to know."

"Yep. Gotta say, sometimes I felt like putting some of Drakken's mind control shampoo on them, though."

"Ron…"

"Oh, c'mon, KP. Don't act like you haven't been thinking it. All parents do."

"Well…"

"Aha! See? I'm right. You do wish you had some kind of control over them!"

"I'm a mother, Ron."

"You're a parent, Kim. Doesn't matter what title it is, you're still a parent. And all parents wish they had some kind of special trick to make their kids behave more sometimes. Why…"

_Buzz!_

Kim got up off the couch and went to go answer the door.

When she opened the door, she saw four broad shouldered men standing before her. She stared at the taller of the men with the tiny neat looking scalp. That's when she noticed what hung from the breast pocket of his dark blue suit jacket—a gold police shield on the flap of black leather.

She looked towards the other men and saw the same shield on their breast pockets.

A smothering sensation of fear crept up Kim's spine and spread over her chest, numbing her.

"Ma'am, do you know a Ronald Stoppable? Does he live here?"

Kim froze. They were calling her ma'am. Something had to be terribly wrong.

"We're from the Seventy-sixth Precinct. Ma'am, are you Mrs. Ronald Stoppable?"

Kim blinked as she finally found her voice.

"Y-Yes. Yes, I am. I'm Kim Stoppable."

"Ma'am, may we come inside?"

"Who's at the door, Kim?" Ron asked as he began walking towards her.

"That's him!" One of the officers said as they drew their weapons.

"What?"

"Get down!" an officer said, pointing at Ron.

"What are you doing?" Kim screamed as she tried to run to her husband's side, however, one of the officers grabbed her arm and restrained her from moving.

"What's going on here?"

"I said get down!" the officer ordered again. This time he and a second officer grabbed Ron and threw to the floor onto his stomach. They held him down with their knees in his back.

"Ron!"

"Ma'am, be still."

"Get off of him!"

"Ma'am…"

"DADDY!"

Kim snapped her head back towards the stairs to see her thirteen year old son, and ten year old daughter looking down at the display in horror.

"What are you doing?" Justin yelled as he ran towards one of the officers.

"Get off of him!" Anne Jean screamed as she followed her brother.

"Get off of my, Daddy!" Justin said as he began punching one of the policemen.

The officer roughly shoved Justin off of him, sending him crashing into one of the walls.

"Justy!" Anne Jean screamed as she ran towards her older brother.

Kim snapped her hand out of the officer's grasp as she delivered a right hook into his face, causing him to stumble towards the door.

Kim raced to her son as she gingerly picked him up, looking him over.

"Justy!"

"I'm okay, Mom! Help Daddy!" he said as he pointed towards his father.

Ron was being handcuffed by the two officers that were holding him down.

Kim raced towards her husband with her children hot on her tail. Just before she could reach the officers though, she was grabbed and pushed against a wall by the policemen she had just delivered a blow to. He wiped the blood off his lips as he continued to restrain her.

"Ma'am…"

"Get off of me!"

"Ma'am, you need to calm down."

Kim began to panic as she saw the two officers who restrained Ron earlier, sharply pick him up and roughly begin shoving him towards the door.

"Hey man, what's the …"

"Sir, you have the right to remain silent. Should you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say may be used against you in a court of law."

"I didn't do anything! Why are you…"

"Sir, do you understand your rights as they have been read to you?"

"Daddy!"

Anne Jean ran to her father but was snatched up by the fourth officer.

"Put me down!"

"Let go of my sister!" Justin screamed as he lunged for the officer, but was snatched up by the policemen who had read Ron his rights.

"Hey!"

"Put them down!" Kim screamed as she tried to escape her officer's deathly grasp, though she was unsuccessful. She found herself being shoved against the wall even harder than before.

"Ma'am, you were ordered to be still."

"What are doing with him?"

"Ma'am…"

"Mommy?"

Kim looked up to see her five year old son and daughter staring up at the display the same way Justin and Anne Jean had just moments earlier.

"Mommy?"

"Daddy!" Serenity cried as she saw her father being shoved out of the front door.

"Ronald Stoppable, you are under arrest for first and second degree murder."

"What?" Kim screamed as she tried once again to escape the policeman's grasp, but to no avail.

"Ma'am, be still."

"Mommy, why are they taking Daddy?" Jason asked as painful tears ran down his face.

Once Ron was out of the door, the officers released their hold on Kim, Anne Jean, and Justin. They then proceeded out the door as well.

"Hey!" Justin shot up off the ground as he ran straight out the front door. "Gimme back my Daddy! Let him go!"

Kim got up and ran towards the door. She got there just in time to see Ron being roughly shoved into a 2006 police cruiser.

Before she could get out of the door, an officer, or more specifically the officer she had assaulted earlier handed her a manila envelope.

"Ma'am, this is for you. Your husband has a trial coming up in two weeks. This has the date, time, and location where the trial will be held as well as other important factors. I'm sorry it has to be this way."

And with that, the broad shouldered man walked back over to the police car. Kim saw him gingerly pick up little Justin and put him to the side before getting back in the police car and drive off.

Kim froze as she stared at the transition. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion to her.

Kim shook her head as she continued to look at the spot where the police car that held Ron was only moments ago. The cries and screams of her children didn't even register in her mind.

All she could think about was her husband. Her partner. Her love.

Only one thing was on Kim's mind now: Find out the person who did the killing and framed her Ron.

* * *

A/N: And there's the introduction folks! Hope you all enjoyed it so far. So there's a murder? And Ron is suspected to be the killer? But Ron wouldn't kill somebody, would he? Well, that's why you keep reading.

Just a note: I know I haven't put them on my profile page yet but they will come soon. The two little five year olds in this fic are Serenity(CC) Stoppable and Jason Taylor(JT) Stoppable, Kim and Ron's first set of twins. I'll try to get them posted as soon as possible.

Also, Justin James or Justin/Justy is known by JJ by Ron and Anne Jean is also known as AJ. Thanks to RSfan for pointing the issue to me earlier and helping me clear up that confusion. So, anytime the acronyms will be used in this story, it will be by Ron only.

Anyway, I got some work to do, so that's it for now.

Don't forget to review. Love you all! And don't forget to Keep on Rocking Everyone!

XyKPfan


	2. Chapter 2

Hordes of flashes were seen coming from the entrance to Middleton's District Court House. Kim kept her gaze straight as she walked towards the court house, ignoring the questions being bombarded at her.

"Mrs. Stoppable, has your husband's arrest affected you and your family in anyway?"

"Will you be able to continue your crime-fighting work as a hero, Mrs. Stoppable?"

"Mrs. Stoppable, how do you plan to get your husband out of this one?"

Kim maintained her focus as she continued to ignore the newscasters shoving their microphones in her direction.

However, it wasn't as easy for her children to do the same.

"Justin James, how does it feel to know that your father will be going to jail for murder?"

Justin sneered as he slapped the microphone out of the reporter's hand.

"Get that thing out of face!"

"Anne-Jean, how have you prepared to handle your father's predicament?" Another reporter asked as she pushed a microphone in Anne-Jean's face.

"What predicament?"

"The predicament of your father going to jail for murder?"

"My father didn't murder anyone! I don't care what those dumb cops say! He didn't do anything! He's innocent!"

"And how do you know that?"

"Get that camera off of my sister!" Justin cried out as he again slapped the microphone out of the reporter's hand.

"I don't know who you think you are but it's none of your damn business whether my father went to jail or not or if he committed murder! I don't go around asking you who has your father murdered, so don't come barging in here and think that just because you're the press, you could do whatever the hell you want, because you can't! Just because my parents are crime-fighting heroes doesn't mean you have the right to come into our business! You have no right what-so-ever! So get out of our faces and leave us the hell alone!"

Justin began to shake with anger as he continued to stare the reporters dead in their faces. Although they were silent, they continued to snap pictures of the no longer teenage hero's son.

Anne-Jean began shaking her brother's arm.

"Justy what are you doing? You know you're not supposed to curse."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now come on!" he said as he began nudging his sister to go forward. However, once he saw his younger siblings being targeted by another reporter, he quickly raced over to them, knocking yet another microphone out of the reporter's hand and getting right in their face.

It wasn't long before a police officer began nudging him to move on. That's when Anne-Jean decided it was her turn to express her anger.

"Get your barbarous hands off my brother!" she yelled as she pulled Justin out of his grasp.

"I've just about had it with you cops and your dumb-ass attitude! Now I don't know what the hell your deal is but I'm done with you guys treating us like crap! First, you come into our house and literally drag my father out of his own house. Then, you practically threw my big brother into a wall! You could have given him a concussion! And you made my little brother and sister cry! How do you think they felt seeing a bunch of broad-shouldered not to mention huge men drag their father out of our home! You don't own anyone of us!"

Anne-Jean looked over to the large group of newscasters.

"Hey, you reporters! You want a story? Then write about how the Middleton police officers are being insubordinate and how they violated the 4th Amendment! You officers better lay off before you end up behind bars where you pests belong! So, why don't you lazy bums go get a real job and stop patronizing the very ones you're _supposed_ to be protecting!"

The broad man stood at a stand-still as he stared at the little caramel blonde haired 10 year-old girl. He cut eyes at her behind his shades.

"You better watch who you're talking to young lady."

"I'm not talking to nobody! I'm talking to a worthless bastard!"

The officer sneered as he continued to stare at the little girl. Luckily, Justin pulled Anne-Jean away before the heated discussion flared up.

"AJ, what are you doing?!"

"Giving that dumb cop a piece of my mind!"

"Are you crazy! You don't talk to a police officer like that! Are you trying to get Mom arrested?"

"He wouldn't arrest Mommy!"

"She hit him! He could arrest her for assaulting a police officer!"

"She was defending herself!"

"No she wasn't! She was trying to get away from him to help Daddy!"

"And that's not as important?!"

Justin stopped walking as he turned his sister around to face him.

"Look, all I'm saying is that we're not in the type of position to be targeting anyone right now."

AJ shot her brother a look, though, he ignored it as he went to go get the twins.

"JT, CC! C'mon you two, let's go!" he said as he began pushing them in front of him. He shot his sister a glance and mouthed the words "Don't provoke them!"

She cut her eyes at her brother. Anne-Jean felt a firm hand grip her shoulder. She looked up to see her grandfather looking down at her. He shot her a questioning glance as he began nudging her forward.

Anne-Jean shook her head as she continued to walk towards the courthouse. If someone said anything else to her about her father going to jail, she didn't know how she would take it.


	3. Chapter 3

Justin James remained silent as he took his seat in the stands. He could feel his sister burying holes in his back, but he didn't care. She was gonna get the two of them in a boat load of trouble if she kept cursing out cops and doing everything their mother told them not to do prior to the trial.

Justin saw his twin brother and sister trying hard to fight down the urge to cry. He knew how hard it was for them to see their father be bodily dragged from their house and not being able to do anything about.

He knew because he felt the same way.

Taking out a few tissues from his pocket, Justin began wiping the few strands of tears that fell down his younger siblings' faces.

"It's gonna be okay, you two. Don't worry. We'll get Daddy out of this sitch. Remember what Mommy always told us. Nothing's unstoppable for a Stoppable," he said as he wiped the last bit of tears from their faces.

"It's gonna be okay."

Serenity and Jason looked up at their older brother, unsure whether to believe his words. After a few moments, they cuddled up next to him, holding onto him tightly as they dug their faces into his shirt.

Justin began rubbing their backs in a fatherly manner, trying to calm them down. He tried his hardest not to let them see how scared and terrified he was of their situation. He fought the tears that demanded to be released from his eyes.

He felt Anne-Jean nudge him and saw her point to one of the double doors.

From the left, they saw a skinny little man in an ebony black suit. He had on a pink tie and a pink tissue in his left breast pocket. He placed his suit case on the ground and a few folders on the plaintiff's table. He had a stern and serious look on his face.

"Is that the guy Daddy's facing?" Anne-Jean asked her older brother.

"No, that's the guy representing the person up against Daddy."

"What?"

"The lawyer. That's the guy's lawyer."

Justin heard another door close and looked over to the right to see his father enter the courtroom, a police officer behind him.

"Why they treatin' Daddy like a broke down slave? He ain't do nothin' wrong!"

"AJ, be quiet."

"He didn't do anything!"

"AJ…"

"These guys…"

"Annie…"

Justin felt his sister move to stand up and he immediately grabbed one of her arms and roughly pulled her back down to her seat.

"Ow!"

"Anne-Jean Stoppable! Sit down and shut up!"

"Justy…"

"Do you want this battle to go sour, Annie? Do you want Daddy to be taken away us?"

"You're hurting me!"

"Do you know what you could cost us if you don't shut that behemothic hole in your face?"

Tears began to flow from Anne-Jean's face as the combination of her brother's fierce hold and her father's situation became too much for her to handle. She no longer hid the tears that burned her eyes and flowed down her face.

"Do you want Daddy taken away from us, AJ? Huh?"

He shook her hard when she didn't answer.

"Answer me!"

Justin winced as he felt a firm grasp on shoulder. He snapped his head back to see his grandmother eyeing him scornfully. He saw Granma P take his left hand and literally squeezed it until he released his hold on his sister.

He saw her pick her up and place her up on her lap as she began rubbing Anne-Jean's back to try and calm her down.

"What is wrong with you Justin?"

Justin turned away from his grandmother as he continued to hold his younger sibling.

He saw his father standing at the defendant's table, no clear expression on his face.

Justin continued to look around the courtroom to see if the actual plaintiff was coming. When he saw the bailiff approach the front of the judge's table, prepared to introduce the judge, he got his answer.

"All arise for the honorable Judge Maylin."

Justin watched as all the people standing in the gallery stood up as the judge entered the courtroom.

As the judge took her seat, he saw the bailiff hand her a folder that apparently had some kind of information on the case.

He heard the bailiff speaking.

"Now this is case number 270 on accounted in a matter of State vs. Stoppable."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome judge. Parties have been sworn in, you may be seated."

Justin took his seat as he continued to eye the lawyer representing the no show plaintiff.

"Mr. Lawson, you are representing the deceased Ruoy Imsesen and all parties associated with him?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

"And who is representing you, Mr. Stoppable?"

"Oh, um, well, you see…"

"I'll be representing Mr. Stoppable, Your Honor," Kim said as she entered the courtroom.

Justin's eyes widened as he saw his mother walk behind the bar and by his father.

"Can she do that?"

Justin turned to see Anne-Jean tapping him on the shoulder, a clear indication that the little fit they had earlier had gone.

"I don't know, but she's doing it."

Mr. Lawson didn't let Kim's sudden appearance get by so easily, though.

"Objection. Your Honor, Mrs. Stoppable's presence in this courtroom isn't to be acknowledged at this point as she arrived late and once a party is marked late they can no longer be connected to the case."

"Your Honor, my coming into this courtroom was known prior to the trial when the information was handed to me regarding my husband's case."

"Your Honor, court was already in session when Mrs. Stoppable arrived, therefore she is exempt from all activities regarding this case."

"Your Honor, that law only applies to the parties of the case since a district attorney may be difficult to find to represent a client and as such can come in the courtroom at any time given as long as it is reasonable enough to represent a client and continue the case. And since I came in a few moments before the trial started I presume that the timing is still reasonable enough for me to interject."

"Which brings me to my next objection. Your Honor, Mrs. Stoppable is representing her husband, which means there is a good chance that a bias result may be produced."

"Objection. Your Honor, Mr. Lawson is being argumentative and…"

"Your Honor, Mrs. Stoppable is defending herself in trying to represent a client that runs the possibility of producing a bias result which is not fair to either party in this case."

"Your Honor, Mr. Lawson is stating that there would be increased chances of bigotry on my part merely because I am the wife of my client."

"Which is why there a strict policy against relationships regarding such partnerships."

"It is not a policy."

"Though it is implied."

"An implication is not fact."

"But bigotry is!"

"Order in this courtroom!"

Kim and Mr. Lawson stopped their ongoing onslaught as the two of them turned their attention towards the judge.

"Now I cannot and will not run the chances of producing bigoted result. Mrs. Stoppable you are to resign from this case. Our court officials will assist your husband in finding another district attorney to represent him, and if they cannot do that we will appoint him one. This case will continue in thirty days."

"Your Honor, in that amount of time we would like to ask that Mr. Stoppable's visitation hours be extended to 72 hours?"

"You're pushing your luck, Mrs. Stoppable. Visitation hours will remain once a week every week. Court is adjourned," the judge said as she brought down gavel.

Ron sighed as he watched his wife gather up all the papers she had prepared on her desk. He saw the look of frustration and hurt in her eyes.

He turned around to speak to her.

"Kim…"

Kim turned her head to face him.

Before Ron could get another word out, one of the police officers from before grabbed him by the arm and began shoving him to move forward.

Kim didn't try to hide the few strands of tears that flowed down her face. She watched as they pushed her husband out of the courtroom and outside to face the press. She saw her children stand up in defiance trying to stop those same officers from hurting their father. She saw her parents struggle to restrain them as they tried not to make a scene.

All this was too much for her. And the fact that she was put off the case for the mere assumption that a bias result will be produced because she was his wife angered her.

Kim gathered the last of her things as she turned around to exit the courtroom. She locked eyes with Mr. Lawson as he too almost walked out.

The two started each other down, fire in their eyes at the other's opposition and persistence.

"I cannot believe you."

"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Stoppable?"

"Mrs. Stoppable is defending herself in trying to represent a client that runs the possibility of producing a bias result which is not fair to either party in this case?"

"I will not allow a bias result to be produced and just because the defendant is your husband doesn't give you the privilege to represent him."

"Where does it state that in the US Constitution, Mr. Lawson?"

"Mrs. Stoppable…"

"In case you didn't realize, I am not the only one who is being affected by this case. My children and family are taking this very hard and I can only imagine how this is affecting Ron."

"Mrs. Stoppable, everyone who I am representing wants this case to be a quick run and wants your husband punished for his actions and I will not disappoint my client."

"I thought your client was dead?"

Mr. Lawson paused as he turned a full 180 to face Kim. Her hard green eyes matched his hard blue.

"Mrs. Stoppable, your husband has hurt someone very close to me with this murder, and I will not rest until that criminal is behind bars where he belongs."

"My husband…did not…murder…anyone."

Mr. Lawson put himself right in Kim's face.

"You are on a very tight leash, Mrs. Stoppable. I suggest you stop biting before you choke yourself."

"I wouldn't have to bite if you took off the chain."

"Watch yourself, Mrs. Stoppable."

"Why do I get the feeling that you somehow play a part in all of this?"

Mr. Lawson drew back as he cut his eyes at Kim.

"Hurry up and get your husband a lawyer so this case can conclude. I suggest you take it easy for a while, Mrs. Stoppable. We wouldn't want two murderers in the family now, would we?"

Kim's eyes snapped open at what her colleague had said.

"You little son of a…"

"Mind you we are still in a courtroom."

"How dare you…"

"We work in the same firm, Mrs. Stoppable. How can you not expect me to know about your pregnancy?"

Kim cut her eyes him.

"And let me tell you, it is not easy to be a single parent and to raise six kids. I know. Though, you may only be raising four if you continue to act the way you're acting."

The tears running down Kim's face did not faze Mr. Lawson in the least.

"Take care of you kids. Get your husband a lawyer. And butt out of this case until it is over. Then you won't have to worry your pretty little head about what I said, because every time you speak, you're jumping from the frying pan into the fire."

Mr. Lawson moved up a couple steps before turning back around to face Kim.

"Good day, Mrs. Stoppable. I'll see you in a few weeks."

And with that, Mr. Lawson stepped out of the courtroom and outside to where the hordes of flashes were seen coming from the door.

Inside, Kim seethed with rage. She wanted to strangle the bastard who was beside her and in her face only moments ago.

After calming herself down, Kim wiped away the last tears that were on her face.

She took a deep breath and walked out of the courtroom, out to face the press that would bombard her with questions within a matter of seconds.


	4. Chapter 4

"I do not believe this!" Kim screamed as she stomped around in her living room.

Anne and Monique shook their heads as they continued to stare at the young women. She had been parading around her house for hours complaining about what Mr. Lawson had done.

"That bastard!"

"Kim, sweetie. Okay, you really need to calm down."

Kim snapped her head at her mother.

"Calm down? How can I calm down, Mom?"

"Honey…"

"That son of a bitch…"

"Kim!"

"…Just took me off the case! Ron's case! He convinced the court that I would be committing bigotry if stayed and represented Ron!"

"Kim…"

"It's a crime for me to defend my husband? Aren't there supposed to be rights to protect the accused? Lawson's got them believing it the other way around! Not to mention the fact that he called me a murderer!"

"Well, he may be on to something there."

Kim gawked at her mother as she put her hand to her chest.

"Mom!"

"I'm sorry to say it honey, but he's right. If you keep stressing yourself out about this, then there's a good chance that something will transpire that none of us want to happen."

"How can you say that, Mom?"

"Because I'm a realist, Kim. You may not wanna hear it but it's true. You can't start overworking and stressing yourself out about this."

Kim couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You're Mom's right Kim," Monique said, "You need to relax."

"Little hard to do, Moni."

"It's hard for us too, Kim."

"Really? Cause I feel like I'm the only one who's taking this seriously."

"Kim…"

"Where's Ron's parents? How do they feel about this?"

"Gene and Jean are helping to look for a lawyer too, Kim." Anne said as she got up off the chair, "They're not just gonna let their son go to jail for murder for no reason."

"Could of fooled me," she said as she picked up the phone and began dialing.

"We don't need the sarcasm, Kim," Monique said as she too got up from the couch, "Who are you calling?"

"Wade. I need him to patch in a favor for me. I'll need a ride."

"Oh no you don't," Anne said as she took the phone away from her daughter and put it back down on the hook, "You're going to stay here and rest."

"I'm not just gonna stand here and do nothing, Mom," she said as she picked up the phone.

Anne took it from her again and slammed it on the hook once more.

"Mom!"

"Kim, you are going to stay here and rest."

"Mom…"

"You can still help, Kim. I just want you to rest for right now."

"I have too much to do."

"You will make time."

Kim picked up the phone again. Anne snatched the phone from her hands and threw it to Monique.

"Mom!"

"Kim, I am you're mother and you will listen to me. I don't care how old you are, I am still you're mother. And not only as a mother, but as a doctor, I order you to go up to your room and lie down."

"You're not that kind of doctor."

"Kim."

"Monique, can you give me the phone?"

"No way, girl. I still love you, but I got to agree with your mom."

Kim sighed heavily as she looked back towards her mother.

"Kimmie, you know I love you, and that I'm only thinking of what's best for you."

Kim shook her head as she felt another boat load of tears start to well in her eyes.

"Just leave this to us for right now."

A click on the front door signaled that her father was back.

"Anne?"

"How'd it go, James?"

The Possible patriarch shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, it didn't go bad."

"But how did it go?"

James gave a large sigh.

"Gene isn't doing too well finding a suitable lawyer for Ronald. And Jim and Tim are finding it difficult as well."

"That sounds pretty bad, James."

He again gave a large sigh.

"Well, we talked it over, and we're all thinking that if this doesn't go as planned, then we may have to let the court appoint Ronald a lawyer…"

"No!"

James and Anne turned their heads to see Kim almost knock her father down as she ran over to him.

"Kimmie-cub…"

"Dad, we cannot let the court appoint Ron a lawyer."

"But Kimmie-cub…"

"Listen to me, Dad! I know Lawson. He's part the same firm as me. He will do whatever it takes to try and win this case, and we can't afford to let him do that."

"Kim…"

"I'm not the only bulldog on that firm Dad, but Lawson isn't a bulldog. He's a snake. A conniving, devious, shrewd man. Next to me, he's the one of the best on our firm. And the fact that he convinced the court that I was wrong to try and defend Ron it is scaring me."

"Well, we're running out of options, Kimmie-cub."

"Make new ones!"

"Kim…"

"Mom, I am not about to let go of this case! I'm not gonna give up! I'm not gonna let Lawson win and I sure as hell am not going to let Ron go to jail for a crime that he didn't even commit!"

"Mommy, the twins are hungry," Justin said as he entered the room, "Should I make them something?"

"Justy what are we gonna do?"

"AJ, go back upstairs. I'm talking to Mommy."

"But Justy…"

"Go back upstairs!"

"But I don't want Daddy to stay in jail."

"Are you talking about this crap again?!"

"Don't talk to your sister like that!"

"Mommy, she's being so freaking annoying!"

"You watch your mouth!"

"Justy…"

"AJ, go back upstairs before I kick your ass!"

"Justin!"

"Okay! This is getting way out of hand!" Anne said as she flailed her hands in the air, "Justin and Annie, go upstairs and change your clothes."

"Why?"

"You're coming with me. Now go upstairs and change your clothes. Wake you're brother and sister and help them get dressed. You're grandfather and I will be waiting for you in the car."

Justin began grumbling to himself as he began walking up the stairs. He roughly pushed past Anne-Jean, shoving her into the banister.

"Hey!" Anne-Jean gripped the banister to keep from tumbling down the stairs.

"Justin!" Kim started for the stairs but her mother blocked her path as she gave her husband a look.

"James?"

"I'm on it." He said as he raced up the stairs. In the time this it took him to get up the stairs, Anne-Jean had caught up to Justin and snatched him around.

"Let go of me!"

"Why you have to go and push me!"

Justin broke free of her grasp and pushed her off of him.

"I'm gonna kick your ass!" he said as he jabbed his finger in her face.

"Go for it!" she shoved Justin's hand out of her face.

They started to tussle.

"You almost knocked me down the stairs! I could've been killed!"

"I wish you had broken your damn neck!"

"Stop it both of you!" James bellowed as he grabbed Anne-Jean by the waist and shoved Justin into the wall.

Kim tried desperately to get past her mother to get up the stairs but she couldn't.

"Let me go, Mom!"

"You're father can handle it. After he gets them calmed down, we'll take them and the twins over to our house for the night. They might stay there an extra few days if they have to."

"Why are you doing this, Mom?"

"I have to, Kimmie. It's the only way you can clear your mind and be ready to deal with this case when you're rested and ready."

"I'm ready now!"

Upstairs, Kim heard a large thud. Silence followed it for quite some time. After a few moments, Kim heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She looked up to see Justin walking with his arms crossed. Tears streamed down his face and he had a grim look on his face.

He snatched his coat up off the rack before opening the front door, and walking out, leaving it still opened behind him.

Kim heard a stifled sniffle and turned to see Anne-Jean walking off the last step. She had more of a remorseful look on her face than anger. She picked up her jacket off of the rack, before putting it on and walking outside behind Justin.

A firm hold on her shoulder, told Kim that her father was behind her. She turned to see him with a small grin on his face.

"Told you I could handle it," he said as he started for the door, "I'll be outside, hun."

"Okay, dear," Anne answered. She saw him close the door as he left.

Anne turned around to face Kim.

"Now Kimmie, promise me you'll try and relax?"

"I cannot promise you something that is not a guarantee."

"Kim!"

"I'm being serious, Mom. I'll try to take it easy and get some sleep but I'm not making any promises."

Anne sighed as she let go of her daughter and started for the door.

"I'll call you tonight."

"Okay."

Kim saw her mother leave and close the door behind her. She walked over to the window. She saw her father pull out of her driveway and onto the road.

She gave a small sigh.

Kim could feel Monique's presence behind her, but made no move to speak.

That didn't stop Monique from talking to her, though.

"Finally, I can talk to you on a one on one."

"Monique…"

"Don't try to push me aside like how you did your mom cause I'm telling you right now it's not gonna happen," Monique said as she walked over to the chair and put the phone back on the hook.

"But you're mother's right, Kim. You need to relax."

"Little hard to do, Monique."

"I don't need the smart mouth, Kim."

"I'm not being smart, Monique. I mean, you guys are acting like it's something that's so easy to do. Relax. I've watched five burly police officers, bolt into my house and pin my husband down to the ground while holding a gun to his face just a few weeks ago. Then watched them drag him out of the house and into a police car. Then I got put off of the case by that mouse-faced bastard just because I'm married to Ron. You don't think any of this is going to have an effect on me?" Kim asked as she began tearing.

"We're not saying it's not going to affect you, Kim. We just want you to relax. I mean, what would Ron say if he saw you trying to do all this stuff in your condition?"

When Kim didn't answer, Monique began to get suspicious.

"You did tell Ron that you were pregnant, didn't you?"

A sniffle was all that Monique heard from her best friend. And that's when she began to get scared.

"You didn't tell him?!"

"I never got the chance."

"Please tell me you're joking?"

"Why would I joke about something like this?"

"Oh, God! Kim, how could you not tell him?"

"I never got the chance."

"That's nonsense!" Monique shouted as she threw her hands in the air.

"How far are you, Kim? Nine weeks?"

"Twelve."

"Twelve!"

"And a half."

Monique nearly slapped her friend hard across her face.

"You're twelve weeks pregnant and you didn't tell your husband? Is he the father?"

Kim shot Monique a look that read '_What the hell do you think?'_

"Why would you ask such a thing, Monique?"

"Why else would you not tell Ron that you're pregnant?"

"I told you I never got the chance. By the time I found out, I was about three weeks. I planned on telling him that night, but he had to work overtime at the restaurant and he was just too tired to do anything. And I had to leave for an early conference the next morning."

"Kim, these are the things you make time for."

"Before I knew it, five weeks had past. I finally decided that I was going to tell him three weeks ago, but that was when…" Kim's voice trailed off as the image of those police officers pinning Ron down to the floor and reading him his rights began to play in her head.

Kim covered her mouth with her hand as she began to sob even harder. Monique enveloped her friend into a huge as tears began to flow down her face.

After a few moments of crying, the two let each other go.

"You okay?"

Kim nodded slowly.

"Okay. You know I'm here for you, girl. Felix and I will do whatever we can."

Kim nodded again as she began wiping away at her tears.

Monique sniffled before wiping her own tears.

"I'll call you later, okay."

Kim nodded once more.

"Call me if you need anything."

Monique picked her purse up off the couch, before saying one more good bye to her friend.

Kim watched as Monique got in her car and drove off. She continued to stare until she thought she was out of sight. Slowly walking back over to her couch, she sat down. She picked up the phone off the hook and began dialing.

There were a few rings before Kim heard someone pick up the phone.

"_Hello?"_

"Wade. This is Kim. I need a favor."


	5. Chapter 5

Kim hurriedly pried herself out of the sunken spot her body had made on the sofa cushion and rushed to the front door.

She opened the door to see the tech guru from her missions standing before her.

"Hey, Kim. What did you call me about?" he asked as he took a seat on the sofa.

"I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"I need a ride."

Wade winced. He had a feeling that was the reason she called him over there but he tried to deny it.

"Can you get me a ride?"

Wade hesitated before he answered.

"I…don't think I can, Kim."

"Why not?"

Again Wade was silent.

"Wade?"

"You see, your mom warned me…"

"You spoke to my mom?"

"…that you were really stressing out about this murder situation with Ron and she advised me not to give you rides because…"

"Why does she keep doing this? Why?"

"…she feels you need your rest and that you need to relax."

"She advised you not to give me rides?"

Wade slowly sucked his teeth.

"Well, she not so much advised me as she did command."

"She commanded you?"

"In a sense I suppose."

"You're a grown ass man, Wade. You shouldn't be taking commands, from my mother."

"I don't know Kim. You're mother can be a very scary person."

"Why are you even listening to her, Wade?"

"She's really worried about you Kim. And I am too."

Kim threw her hands up in the air as she began pacing the house again.

"Why is everyone so concerned about me? I'm fine!"

"You're pregnant."

"Your point?"

"Kim, you are really stressing over this murder…"

"You expect me to be happy and cheerful about this, Wade?"

"Well…"

"You expect me to be smiling all day long 24-7?"

"No, but…"

"What is so dangerous about me looking for as suitable lawyer for Ron?"

"That's not the problem, Kim."

"Then what is, cause apparently I'm not understanding."

"We don't want you to stress too much about this."

"About Ron being in jail? Do you even realize what you're saying?"

"We just want you to relax, Kim."

"Dammit! What is with everybody treating me like I'm some feeble little three year old child? I'm a grown ass woman!"

"You're pregnant…"

"And so are half of the other women in Middleton, Wade! I'm pregnant. So what. You guys are acting like I don't know left from right or up from down. Just, let it go. Stop harassing me!"

Wade slumped back and crossed his legs. He looked away.

"In case you forgot Kim, you are not the only one who is being affected by your stress."

Kim paused before looking back at him.

"I mean, look around Kim. Who is not here? You're kids right? They are also affected by how you're behaving and how you're stressing. Justin is starting to develop anger problems while Anne-Jean is lapsing into a state of depression."

Kim sucked in her lips to try to stop herself from crying.

"And for once, did you think that our hounding you to relax and to rest was not about you, but the two fetuses inside you?"

Kim found herself choking as she tried to muffle her sobs.

"You are so freaking caught up in what you want to do that you're not even considering who is also being affected by your actions. This may not be life or death to you, but it is to your children. I mean…"

Kim teared.

Wade stopped midsentence at seeing his friend cry. He felt somewhat ashamed at what he had said and immediately regretted it. He knew he had hurt Kim's feelings.

He went to her.

"Kim, I'm sorry."

She still wouldn't look at him.

"I shouldn't have said what I did. I'm really sorry."

Reluctant to accept his apology, Kim said nothing. She and Wade locked eyes.

He saw the tears in hers. She saw the hurt in his.

"We're okay, aren't we?"

Kim said nothing, but continued to look her friend in his eyes.

"Kim, you're like a big sister to me. You're family. I love you as much as I love my mom and my wife. I can't stand to see you hurting. I'm only trying to look out for you."

Kim still said nothing, but began wiping the tears that were starting to bead in her friend's eyes, letting her own tears flow down her face.

"I know you're only trying to look out for me, Wade. Everyone is. But I'm okay."

"No, you're not okay, Kim."

"Wade, I can handle this."

"See Kim, that's exactly what we're talking about. You can't handle this. No single person can handle this…"

"Wade."

"…alone. You keep pushing yourself and I'm afraid that you're gonna lapse into a state of depression…"

"Oh, God."

"…because you're in denial…"

"I'm not listening to this."

"…about what you're going through."

Kim began walking away from Wade. He matched her strides and was right on her heels.

"I'm right here, Kim."

"Go home, Wade."

"I'm here if you need me…"

"Go home, Wade."

"If you need a shoulder to lean on…"

"Wade, please! Just go home!"

Wade paused as he saw Kim's hurtful and frustrated expression. He wanted to hug her. To comfort her. But he couldn't do that if she was always keeping him at arm's length.

"Kim…"

"Wade…please go home. Please."

He heard her voice crack as she said those words. He saw her gripping her side. He didn't know if that was because she was tired or if it was because she hadn't eaten for three whole days, but he wasn't going to stay around to find out.

She didn't want him there.

Exhaling loudly, Wade started for the door. He was mindful to close the door behind him as he left. He made no move to say goodbye to her since he knew she was angry with him.

After yanking open his car door, Wade strapped himself in and drove off.

Kim remained there standing, looking at the door for a good ten minutes before her emotions got the best of her.

After letting out a boisterous scream, Kim stomped upstairs in high dudgeon, hoping that her painful cries would be enough to put her to sleep and give her body the rest it needed.

* * *

Dinner was quiet at the Possible household. Not one word was spoken while they were eating, which was a little unnerving for Anne.

She watched as Justin excused himself m the table as he walked off into the living room and Anne-Jean head straight for the bathroom. She had hoped that this arrangement would somehow calm the children down, but now, she was starting to have her doubts.

She felt a tug on her leg and looked down to see her younger grandchildren looking up at her.

"Gramma P, can we have some ice cream?"

Anne smiled the smallest of smiles.

"Of course, Jason. You and Serenity go wash up and I'll have the ice cream on the counter when you come back.

The two wasted no time in rushing up the stairs to wash their hands, hoping to devour the sweet little treat that would be awaiting them when they returned.

Justin lazy began flipping through the channels as he sunk into the sofa. Nothing was on. His favorite show wasn't coming on tonight and the only thing he saw that was on was a picture with a talking sponge, a football headed boy, and a group of teens trying to save the world or something.

He finally decided to stop the channel flipping as he sunk into the sofa even more. The show that was on looked interesting, but nothing that was usually his tastes.

He decided he'd watch the show that had little creatures coming out of red little balls.

_If the show is called Pokemon, why is one of the main characters about a boy and his Pikachu?_

Justin's thoughts were interrupted as he sensed a presence of another person in the room.

Too lazy to look up, he waited until the person said something to identify who they were.

Which they did.

"Justy?"

Justin rolled his eyes at hearing his younger sister's voice.

"Justy…"

"What? Can't you see I'm busy watching TV?"

"I want you to apologize to me."

"Why?"

"Because you hurt my feelings."

"So?"

"I want you to apologize."

"I'm not gonna."

"Justy!"

"What?"

"Apologize!"

"I'm not. So, now what do we do?"

"Justy!"

"You can yell at me all you want, but I'm not gonna apologize."

Anne-Jean put her hands on her hips.

"Why are you such a grump?"

"Why are you such a bitch?"

Anne-Jean gasped as she put her hand to her chest.

"How dare you!"

"How dare I what?"

"You are so mean."

Justin made a rude sound.

"Look AJ, you're really starting to get on my nerves. Why don't you go upstairs and play with that ugly doll you used to play with when you were 5. What was its name? Kristain? Katlyn. Go upstairs and play with Katlyn."

"You are way out of control!"

Justin didn't respond.

"I mean, I don't know who you are anymore. I mean, every since Daddy went to jail…"

"Damn AJ, why do you always have to go there?"

"Because you make me!"

"I don't make you do anything."

"Yes, you do!"

"What do I make you do?"

"You make me believe that you don't care about, Daddy."

Justin eyes shot up as he heard his sister's remark. He got up out the chair as he approached her.

"What did you say?"

"I don't believe you care about…"

"Why would you even say such a thing? Of course I care about Daddy!"

"You don't show it."

Justin paused.

"Is that what this is about? Me not crying over the fact that Daddy's in jail?"

"Justy…"

"AJ, how can you be so stupid!"

"I beg your pardon?" she asked slightly annoyed.

"You don't think I care about Daddy because I'm not all over the place crying like how you are?"

"Yes!"

Justin chuckled dryly.

"You are so stupid!"

Anne-Jean narrowed her eyes at her brother as he continued to stare her in the face.

"I'm not the one who's stupid."

"Oh, really?"

"You tried to defend those officers who took Daddy away!"

"Since when?"

"Since we went to court! You keep telling me not to get in their face and not to hit them or argue with them…"

"Do you know what will happen if you did any of those things to a police officer?"

Anne-Jean opened her mouth to say 'Yes' but Justin cut her off.

"Of course not. Otherwise, you wouldn't be doing so in the first place."

"Those _officers_ are a bunch of jackasses!"

"Those _officers_ can put you in juvy."

"I don't care! They took my father away from me!"

"He's not just _your_ father! And those officers were only doing _their_ job. They got a call to arrest our father and they did."

"They violated the 4th Amendment!"

"And so does everyone else in the world! Laws are broken every day, AJ!"

"They were wrong!"

"And so is half of the earth's population! You think that just because a law is broken that that gives you the right to get in their faces and say as much shit to them as you want?"

"They arrested my father!"

"He is not just _your_ father! He's a husband and he's a son! And he's a goddamn chef! And a freaking American citizen!"

Anne-Jean paused.

"Just think for a second, AJ. Who do you think is mostly affected by Daddy's going to jail? If you think it's you then you're more of a dumbass than those cops."

"They broke the law!"

"So what!"

Anne-Jean froze.

"Yeah, they made a bone-head move by not showing a warrant but they didn't do it. Get over it! They were only doing what they were paid to do. Arrest our father…"

"He didn't murder anyone…"

"You think just saying it is gonna make a difference?"

Anne-Jean felt tears well in her eyes.

"Daddy was arrested for murder. We know he's innocent but the court doesn't. Daddy's supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, right? That's the law. Innocent until proven guilty. But you're forgetting that somebody is representing the guy who was murdered. That Lawson guy Mommy works with. I don't trust him. Never liked him since I saw him in court. Something's weird about him. But whatever. I just want you to know that things aren't as easy or as simple as you think. The world isn't just in black and white. There are shades of gray too, and it's up to us to reveal it so that they can understand as well. The ball's in our court now."

Tears began to flow from Anne-Jean's eyes.

"But whatever. That's done. Daddy was arrested. It's over with."

"I want Daddy back!"

Justin punched the wall.

"Dammit, AJ! Will you listen to a damn word that's coming out of my mouth! Just who do you think is most affected by Daddy's going to jail, huh? Just tell me. Who do you think is?"

Anne-Jean opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"That's what I thought. Well let me enlighten you. Mommy, our mother. Daddy's wife, Granma and Grandpa P's daughter, is the one who is mostly affected by this. Kimberly Ann Possible now Stoppable. Not Anne-Jean Stoppable. You know why? Because she is the one who feels absolutely useless and the one who is hurting the most.

"How do you think Mommy feels, AJ? Don't answer that. I'll just tell you. She feels like a complete and utter failure. She's frustrated. She pissed off. She's a big emotional wreck. Mommy first had to deal with the stress of seeing her husband dragged out of his house. And not only that, she was put off the case. That Lawson guy convinced the court that Mommy was wrong, which is a bunch of bull. And what he told her pissed me off."

Anne-Jean's mouth began to quiver as she continued to listen to her brother.

"You were long gone outside with Granma and Grandpa P. But I was in the bathroom. I heard the things he said to my mother and I wanted smack the shit out of him. Excuse my excessive cursing little sis, but I have a right to speak my mind. That bastard said some nasty things to my mother and it pisses me off. And it's those very things that he said that are stressing her out too. And in addition to that, Mommy's pregnant. So she has everyone hounding her about what she can and can't or should and shouldn't do. And you know what takes the cake, AJ? Daddy doesn't know! Our father doesn't know that his wife is pregnant with another child and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it!"

Anne-Jean felt her nose begin to run, but made no movement to wipe it.

"And what about the twins? They don't know what's going on. All they know is that their father is no longer with them and that they only get to see him once a week. How do you think that affects them?"

"You are so cruel!"

Justin felt like giving is younger sister a good punch in the mouth.

"You are about to put me over the edge, AJ. So close to putting me over the edge!"

"Why aren't you crying like the rest of us?"

Justin threw the remote he held in his hand to the ground, shattering the small electrical device.

"Dammit, AJ! Fine! You wanna know why I'm not crying? Here it is! I don't want all hell to break loose in this family, cause we're already going through enough shit as it is!"

Anne-Jean was taken aback by what her brother said.

"Just what is crying your eyes out going to do, AJ? Huh? What is it gonna do? Is it gonna get Daddy out of jail? No. Is it gonna stop Mommy from stressing? No. Is it gonna do anything that will benefit us from this case? No! Crying isn't gonna solve a damn thing!"

Anne-Jean felt her tear start to flow from her face again.

"I don't care if you cry. I don't. Cry me a river if you want, I still won't care. When you cry, you're showing that you're weak. You're giving up. You're spending your time worrying and complaining about something that can't be changed, instead of stepping up and trying to do something about it!"

Anne-Jean began coughing as her tears blinded her vision.

"Stop dwelling on the fact that Daddy's in jail! We can't help that! What you need to focus on is trying to help Mommy before we lose her too! Why do you think I was trying to help her today with the twins? Mommy can't handle all that pressure. It's gonna send her to an early grave."

"But Justy…"

"But what, Anne-Jean?"

Anne-Jean eyes widened. Her brother never called her that unless he was really upset.

She began to have trouble breathing as her excessive crying started suffocating her.

"Have you not noticed how this is affecting her? Are you so full of it that you can only think of yourself? _'What are we gonna do about Daddy? I want my Daddy. I miss Daddy._ Damn! Will you give it a rest already! This may be hard for you to believe, but the world doesn't revolve around you!"

"What is going on in here?" Anne shouted as she entered the room. She looked down at her grandchildren with a scornful expression on her face.

"What is going on in here?"

"Nothing Granma. We were just having a discussion," Justin answered. His eyes never left his sister's.

"I'm going to bed," he said as he began walking away and headed for the stairs.

Anne turned her eyes from Justin to Anne-Jean. Seeing her granddaughter cry sparked her curiosity.

"Annie?"

"I'm…I'm sorry Granma, but…I…I gotta go…" she said as she sprinted upstairs, past Justin and into her mother's old bedroom.

Anne looked at the stairs in confusion and frustration. This day was going from bad to worse.

Shaking her head, she turned to go back in the kitchen when the crack of something under her foot made her turn back and look down.

She saw the shattered remains of the remote Justin had smashed just moments ago.

Shaking her head again, Anne went into the kitchen to get a broom.

She began sweeping up the broken pieces of metal when she returned, only to stop once she heard a crash in the kitchen. Two very loud cries followed, and she knew the twins had broken something and hurt themselves.

Anne exhaled loudly.

This definitely wasn't going the way she had hoped.


	6. Chapter 6

Ron lazily ran his fingers against the wall of his cell. It was the first time all day that his cellmates weren't rattling on about all they had to go through and how on earth they ended up being here, etcetera, etcetera.

He was also happy because the first few weeks he'd been here, he hadn't seen any of the villains he and Kim had put away. That could be because they're either at another jail or under the care of Global Justice.

Whatever the reason, Ron didn't want to know. He didn't need to. His only concern was getting out of there as fast as he could.

He knew this experience wasn't merging very well with his kids and certainly not with Kim. He knew from the first time they visited him that things were bad. It was written all over their faces. The only ones who didn't look that upset were the twins, which could be because they didn't understand what was going on. Whatever the reason, seeing the large smile on his younger children's faces was enough to keep him smiling, if only for a moment.

But that was only thing that cheered him up.

Everybody else looked absolutely miserable. And why wouldn't they be?

His little girl looked like she had seen a ghost. It upset him to see her so sad. He knew how sensitive she was when it came to him and how he was treated. The little light that he used to see in her eyes was gone.

That same happiness was also lost on his son. Justin looked miserable. No. Miserable was an understatement. He looked strained. Gloomy.

His little boy, was not sad, but furious. He could see the anger in his eyes. He could see him trying to hold on. Trying not to cry like the others.

Ron thought he was brave, but foolish. He knew what would happen if Justin kept holding on to his anger and frustration. He needed to tell to let go. That is was okay to cry.

He needed to tell him to calm down and soon. He needed to talk to his son before it was too late.

And Kim.

Oh God. He could only imagine how this was affecting her. He knew she had to be crushed. And worst of all, he knew something was wrong.

Kim wasn't acting like herself. She was acting strange. Different.

Even before the trial, before those officers forced their way into his home and arrested him, he could tell something wasn't right.

From the moment he saw her throw up the week before his arrest, Ron was concerned that she was sick. He never had the time to ask her what the problem was and he felt horrible. He planned on asking her three weeks ago, but that was when those barbarous excuse for officers rushed into his house and took him away. Away from his family. Away from his children. And his wife. His love.

He knew that this murder could only be hurting her even more. Even though he hadn't seen what had happened at home, he knew she was hurting the most.

He wanted to hold her. To hug her and comfort her like only he could. He wanted to tell her that everything would be all right, but even he knew that that would be so far off from the truth.

A knock on his cell interrupted his thoughts. Ron looked up to see one of the guards opening the gate to his cell.

"Ron Stoppable, you have a visitor."

It took all of Ron's strength to resist the urge to beat Mr. Lawson to a pulp when he saw him as he entered the congregation room.

The guard walked over to the door.

"Your visitation is thirty minutes. Remember, Stoppable, no contact," the officer bellowed as he stood guard of the door.

"Yes sir," he answered, in the standard protocol for speaking with CO's.

The gate slid open and the officer stood on either side of it, and two more lorded over the room itself to assure no illegal contraband passed and no rules were broken.

A wide grin spread across Mr. Lawson's face.

"Why, hello there, Mr. Stoppable."

Ron didn't answer as he slowly took his seat.

"As the great Heath Ledger once said in that oh so wonderful movie, why so serious?

"What do you want, Lawson?"

"Well that's not a very welcom…"

"Cut the crap, Lawson. I know you came here for a reason."

Lawson smirked.

"So impatient. I don't know why you're so pushy, Mr. Stoppable. You're the one in the hot seat."

Ron's anger was burning him up. His face was flushed.

"Lawson…"

"Call me Preston."

"…Lawson, why are you here?"

Mr. Lawson rested his arms on the table as his sly expression immediately changed into one of contempt.

"I want you to admit that you murdered my client, Ruoy Imsesen."

Ron raised his eyebrow questionably at the lawyer.

"And why would I do that?"

"Don't mince words with me, Mr. Stoppable. You can cut the shit."

"I beg your pardon?" Ron said as he grew angrier the more Mr. Lawson spoke to him.

"Mr. Stoppable, why don't you make this easy for the both of us and turn yourself in?"

"For what?"

"You know damn well what, Mr. Stoppable."

"I didn't murder anyone."

"Mr. Stoppable, the more you resist, the harder it's gonna be for you later on."

"I don't know what the hell your problem is but I suggest you get out of here before…"

"Stoppable!"

Ron turned his head to see one of the guards eyeing him, as if testing him to do something that would violate one of their laws.

"Looks like no threats can be made on your behalf, Mr. Stoppable."

Ron found himself grinding his teeth in frustration as he continued to stare at the lawyer.

"Mr. Stoppable, do us all a favor. Throw in the towel and take the fall. It's better for all of us."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, Mr. Stoppable. Do you really want to put that kind of stress on your wife? Kim?"

Ron began to seethe with anger.

"Don't you bring her into this!"

"Do you really want all that pressure on her shoulders? In her condition?"

"What condition? What are you talking about?"

Mr. Lawson's smile widened when he realized the situation.

"Oh, you mean you don't know?"

"Don't know what? What are you talking about?"

Fear gripped Ron's heart. Lawson was bringing Kim into the conversation. And he mentioned something about her condition. Something like that could not be good, especially coming from Lawson's mouth.

"What's wrong with Kim?"

Lawson smirked.

"I see she has not told you."

"Told me what?"

"It's a shame. She didn't even have to tell me. But then again, we do work in the same firm. Word does get around."

Ron balled up his fists. "Dammit Lawson, what the hell are you talking about? What's wrong with Kim?"

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Stoppable."

Ron raised his fist, knuckles popped, threateningly at Lawson.

"What…the…fuck…"

Lawson raised his eyebrow.

"Wow, Mr. Stoppable. I didn't think…"

"Shut up! Who are you," Ron bellowed, again raising his fist towards Lawson, "to say that I can't worry about my wife. You know something and you're not telling me. What's wrong with Kim?"

Lawson smirked.

"Am I supposed to be intimidated, Mr. Stoppable?"

"What's…wrong…with…Kim?"

"That's something you need to ask your wife," he said as he got up from his seat, "But I will tell you something, Mr. Stoppable. You better make your decision soon. You don't want to see your wife end up in an early grave, now do you?"

Ron struck out at Lawson but his fist never made contact with his face as the officers rushed out and pulled Ron back, holding him with everything they had.

Ron struggled to free himself from their grasp as he stared Lawson down.

Lawson held his gaze. He saw the little glint of blue that formed around Ron's eyes and smiled. He knew exactly what it was and he was daring Ron to hit him. It would give him so much pleasure to call the officers see what they would do to him.

The moment was still, the air tense.

Smirking to himself, Lawson gathered up his things and turned away from Ron. Before he exited the room, he paused.

"I hope you take what I said into consideration, Mr. Stoppable. After all, I wouldn't want your Kim to lose something so precious that it may cost her her life."

Ron sneered. He tried desperately to escape the officers grasp, but it was no use.

Lawson smirked again before exiting the room. Ron wished he could slap that self-satisfied smirk off Mr. Lawson's face. What did he mean this could hurt her condition? What condition? And what was with that Kim could lose life crap?

Whatever it was, Ron didn't like it. He needed to talk to Kim before it was too late.

* * *

Kim moaned again as she let go of the toilet seat. That was the ninth time she had to get up from bed to throw up that morning. She glanced at the clock in her bedroom.

1:23 AM.

Kim heaved towards the toilet once more as she threw up again.

She sighed.

This was so not how she wanted to spend her morning. She was supposed to be resting. Even if she couldn't fall asleep, at least her body would get the rest it needed.

Kim moaned again as she gripped her stomach. This morning sickness thing was getting out of hand. Even when she was pregnant with Justin or Anne-Jean, she didn't experience it like this. Not even when she was pregnant with the twins did she throw up that much.

Tearing a piece of paper from the dispenser, she began wiping her mouth. She grabbed onto the towel rack to help herself stand up. She flushed the toilet and began washing her hands.

After drying off her hands, Kim looked in the mirror. Her hair looked a mess, and there were little black circles under her eyes, but she didn't care.

Or maybe she should.

Kim shook her head as realization hit her. Maybe her family was right. Maybe her stressing over Ron's case and the murder was too much for her to handle all at once. It sure as hell was affecting her sleep. And she knew she didn't vomit like that when she was pregnant with her other children.

Kim knew she wasn't going to get back to sleep now. Yawning, she walked outside of the bathroom and decided to go downstairs for a glass of water, hoping it would soothe her aching throat.

After she walked into the kitchen, Kim walked over to the fridge and took out a medium sized bottle of water. She poured it into a glass and began drinking it.

Taking a rather large sip, Kim swished the icy water in her mouth for a while before swallowing it down slowly.

Kim walked into her living room and over towards one of her windows. She saw the moon set on her beautifully landscaped garden. The winding path of golden brown cobblestones and the reflection of the moonlight against them enhanced the beauty of the array of flowers by fifty percent.

Kim smiled as she thought of how she and Ron had planted those flowers a few weeks after moving in to their new home. Those memories were lost on her mind since Ron was no longer there to see the beauty of their garden.

Kim sighed as she turned around to go back upstairs.

No sooner had she turned around, that something shot through the window, almost slitting her throat as it pierced threw the window, shattering the glass.

Kim let out a shrill scream as she fell to the ground and dropped the glass she held in her hands, shattering it to pieces. Kim's body shook violently as she stared up at her now broken glass window.

If she hadn't turned around when she did, she could have possibly been killed.

Kim continued to shake as fear gripped her heart.

Looking over to her right, she began crawling on the ground under one of tables, to afraid to stand up for fear of if something else should come spiraling in her house.

Kim winced as she felt something dig into her knee. Moving her leg, Kim looked to see what it was.

Kim's heart almost stopped beating as she gazed upon the object.

A bullet.

A classically, molded, lead bullet, which had just moments ago, come so close to ending her life.


	7. Chapter 7

Kim watched as the detectives cleaned up and analyzed the broken glass on her living room floor. She held her hand to her mouth as she continued to stare awestruck at the remains of her glass window, or rather what it was that pierced through the window the previous night.

Kim continued to shake as the image of what _could of_ and _almost_ happened last night continued to play in her mind.

A firm grasp on her shoulder took Kim out of her faze as she looked up to see Wade staring at her, concern in his mahogany eyes.

"Kim, are you alright?"

Kim didn't answer as she turned her head back to look at the investigators once more.

"I was almost killed last night, Wade," She said with no clear emotion.

Wade pursed his lips. Things just weren't going well in this family. And what was worse was that he didn't know what to do about it.

Kim looked up to see one of the investigators approach her.

"Well, Mrs. Stoppable, we gathered as much evidence as we could find. We'll see if we can track down the perpetrator who did this to you."

"Thank you."

The broad shouldered man gave a nod as he turned around to face his partners. He was a little taken aback to see Mrs. Possible standing right in front of him, staring at him questionably.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

Kim seemed a little bit surprised to see the detective intimidated at the sight of her. But then again, this was _her_ mother. Wade wasn't lying when he said she could be a scary person to deal with.

The detective anxiously began rubbing the back of his neck.

"W-Well, my boys and I…"

"Boys?"

"Partners…were going to go down town to get this stuff analyzed. You know, see if we can detect any evidence, like fingerprints, DNA samples…"

"And just how do you propose to do that? You have no one to match the DNA with?"

"Well…"

"Mom, stop interrogating this man," Kim said as she stepped in between the two.

"I'm not interrogating anyone. I just want to know how he's supposed to match up samples, when we don't even have a suspect to match them up to."

"Ma'am…"

"You don't have to explain anything to her, Mr. Williams. You can just go and call me when you find something."

The investigator nodded his head and handed Kim his card.

"Call me if you need anything or if something else comes up."

"I will," she said as she examined the small little card.

Again, Williams nodded his head before exiting the house with his partners behind him.

"Kim, why did you do that?"

"I had to Mom. You were scaring the poor man," Kim said as she placed Williams' business card in one of the living room draws.

"Why would he be scared of me?"

"Mom, that's a question that does not need to be answered."

"Kim…"

"Monique, can you come in here a minute?"

Monique immediately rushed into the living room to her best friend.

"You want something, Kim?"

"Yeah, can you go into the kitchen and get me that printed out piece paper with list of district attorney's that are currently residing in Middleton and are available?"

Monique gave her friend a skeptical look.

"Are you sure you wanna do that now, Kim?"

"Yes, I'm sure! Can you please hand me that paper so I can start calling?"

"O-kay," Monique said still not completely sure about what Kim was doing.

"Kim!"

"Yes, Mom?"

"I know you are not about to call a lawyer to try and represent Ron, _now_?"

"Why are you so surprised?"

* * *

Justin took his shirt off the ironing board and looked it over once more to make sure no more creases were in the shirt.

He heard a knock on the door and looked up to see Anne-Jean entering the room.

After a few moments passed where no words were spoken, Anne-Jean decided to take a chance and saw something.

"C-Can I come in?"

Justin made a motion with his hand and Anne-Jean walked inside and closed the door behind her.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Another few moments of silence passed.

"Justin…"

"I'm sorry."

Anne-Jean was taken aback by her brother's apology. She definitely wasn't expecting him to say something like that.

"What?"

Justin sighed as he looked at his sister.

"I'm sorry, AJ. I shouldn't have spoken to you like I did. I was way out of control."

"I'm sorry too, Justin. Guess we both said some things we didn't mean."

"Oh no, don't get me wrong. I meant what I said," he said as he slipped his shirt over his head, "I was just out of line when I said it."

Anne-Jean pursed her lips at her brother's remark.

"W-What do you mean?"

Justin started straightening his shirt.

"I'm not sorry about what I said, AJ. I'm sorry about the way I said it, if that makes sense," he said as he glanced in her direction as he walked over to the mirror, "I meant what I said about you needing to stop crying like a new born infant that was just slapped on the ass."

"Well how am I supposed to act?" Anne-Jean shouted.

"Be strong for Mommy!" he barked back.

"W-wha…what do you…"

"Dammit, AJ. How many times do we have to go through this?" he said as he turned away from the mirror to face her.

Now, this time, Justin was the one irking Anne-Jean's nerves.

"We don't have to go through anything, Justin."

"Look, Annie…"

"No, no! I'm speaking now!"

Justin raised his eyebrow at his little sister. He leaned up against the mirror in Jim and Tim's old bedroom as he prepared to listen to her.

"Alright, AJ. Go for it."

"I'm tired of hearing you bitch at me for crying over the fact that Daddy's in jail! How the hell am I supposed to react? My father's in jail! He's not here anymore! I can't go to the park with him anymore! I-I can't cuddle with him at night anymore! I can't do anything with him anymore! How can you be so cruel and inhumane, Justin? How?"

Justin chuckled dryly.

"Wow. You are something else."

Anne-Jean cut her eyes at her brother.

"I mean, you really are a piece of work."

"What are you…"

"Shut up."

Anne-Jean furrowed her brow as she blinked several times at her brother.

"Excuse me…"

"I said shut up, AJ."

"How dare you…"

"Little sister, shut up. Okay? Shut up. I'm talking."

"Justin…"

"You're not deaf, Annie. I know you heard what I said."

Anne-Jean sucked in her lips to prevent herself from saying something she knew she'd regret later on.

"You are so freaking conceited, AJ. "

"I am not…"

"AJ! Shut up!"

Anne-Jean was taken aback by her brother's rashness but tried not to let it show too much.

"Damn! It's not that hard to do. I'm talking. I didn't interrupt you when you spoke, so don't you say a damn word while I'm talking…"

"You're wrong."

Justin shook his head as he turned back around to face the mirror.

"You're wrong, Justin."'

"I'm done."

"You're what?"

"I'm done, AJ," he said as he turned back around to face her, "I'm done trying to get you to realize what's going on. Nothing I say is gonna change your mindset so I'm not gonna waste any more my time talking to you, cause it only ends in me being pissed off and frustrated, and you crying all over the place. I'm done. I'm not dealing with this anymore," he said as he began unbuttoning his shirt a little.

"You are so vindictive!"

"Do you even know what that word means?" he said as he spun around to face her once more. When she didn't answer he chuckled dryly as he began combing his hair.

Enraged by his indifference and sarcasm, Anne-Jean took a brush off of one of the dressers and threw it at Justin, missing him by mere inches, and breaking the mirror in front of him.

Justin spun around to face his sister as he grasped the foot railing of Tim's old bed and violently began shaking it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you want me to do Justin! My father is in jail…"

"Why the hell would you throw something at me? Are you crazy?"

"…and you expect me to sit here and be emotionless…"

"Have you lost your mind? You don't just throw things in this house? You're not five years old anymore!"

"…and not cry about it?"

"Dammit, you broke Uncle Tim's mirror! Do you know how freaking expensive this thing is? Oh man, they're gonna blame me for this!"

"Will you listen to me?"

"No! I've heard enough shit from you already!"

"Will you stop with all the damn cursing?"

"First Amendment! Freedom of Speech! I can say whatever the hell I want and you're really starting to piss me off!"

"I always piss you off! That's all I hear from you lately. Ever since Daddy…"

"Don't…you…say it…" Justin said as he raised his finger at his sister, "Anne-Jean, don't you dare say it!"

Anne-Jean wasn't fazed at all by her brother's threat at all.

"What do you want me to do, Justin? Tell me? If it's makes you so angry to hear me cry over the fact that Daddy's in jail…"

"Dammit!"

"…then what do you propose I do…"

"Grow up!"

Anne-Jean took a step back as her brother's shouting seemed to get louder and louder.

"Grow up and face reality, AJ. You are not the weakest link in this chain. Mommy is. Okay? You are not about to be torn off. Mommy is. You need to stop thinking of yourself and open that narrow-minded head of yours. You're ten years old. Act like it."

"I am acting like it…"

"No, you're acting like a pity little drama queen. I told you, I don't care if you cry. I don't. I really don't. Crying doesn't solve a damn thing. The sooner you realize that, the closer you are to being ready to deal with the situation at hand."

"I'm not a drama queen."

"Excuse me? Did you not just a few moments ago complain about not being able to cuddle up with our father at night?"

Anne-Jean felt tears well up in her eyes again.

"But, no. Maybe drama queen isn't the right word. You're a spoiled little bitch…"

"Justin!"

"…a spoiled little bitch, who thinks very little of all those around her because she no longer has her Daddy to kiss her booboo when she falls down. Grow up. He's not just _your_ father. He's mine and the twins father too. He's Mommy's husband. He's Granma and Grandpa S' son. He's the head chef and owner of _Chez Ronald_ and a nationally known hero."

Anne-Jean teared.

"I'm thirteen years old, AJ. You don't think I'm upset that my father isn't here? Do you know the type of things I have to go through without him being here? No. Because I don't worry others about my problems, because I know they have their own to deal with."

Anne-Jean's lips began to quiver.

"Daddy's not here anymore. I'm now the man of the house and I'm not even a man. I have to be the shoulder for Mommy, the father for the twins, the glue that's keeping this family from tearing apart, and the rain that's putting out the flames for Hell to break loose. Yeah, I'm stressed, but I'm not letting you guys worry about it. Because the moment I start to panic, everyone will. You know why? Because if something happens to me, to any of us, Mommy is gonna blame…her…self. And that's something I cannot afford to let her do."

Anne-Jean began wiping her tears. Justin wasn't fazed.

"You need to grow up, AJ. This is an adult situation and we are a part of it. Or if that's too much for you, you need to mature down. Go back to when you were three and naïve. When you didn't understand a damn thing that was going on. Like the twins. And oh, God. The twins…They're not even crying as much as you. They don't whine, or even complain as much as you do."

Anne-Jean began coughing.

"See that right there? That's something I'd expect the twins to do. Moan and groan about their father not being here. But they're not. In fact, they don't even cry, cause they don't understand what's going on. The most you would get out of them that even relates to this case is the occasional _'Is Daddy still at that place? When are we gonna see him again? When are we gonna visit him again? I can't wait til' Daddy comes back cause I'm gonna give him the biggest hug I can'_. That's it. I mean, they get so excited on visitation day. They'll smile that innocent, cheerful smile, just to see their father again for a few minutes a week. Yet, you can't go ten minutes."

Anne-Jean began sniffling.

"Wake up, AJ. I'm trying to prepare this family for the worst. You need a reality check. Get this into your narrow-minded head. There is a _huge_ possibility that Daddy may not come back."

Anne-Jean shook her head as she covered her mouth as she felt her nose begin to sting.

Justin didn't care. He continued to stare at his sister in disbelief, until a knock on the door directed his attention from Anne-Jean to the little person standing at the door.

"Justy?"

Justin looked up to see his little brother entering the room, looking around the room curiously.

"Hey, Jasy. Come here," he said as his little brother ran into his arms. He picked him up and began ruffling up his hair, causing his little brother to smile that cute little adorable smile he always loved.

"What can I do you for, little man?"

"Granmie said we 'bout to leave to see Daddy. She wanna know if you ready?"

"Tell her I'm on my way," he said as he put Jason back on the ground, giving him a playful nudge.

Jason happily obliged as he raced out the door and downstairs to his grandmother.

Justin smiled at seeing his little brother so happy and cheerful. That smiled quickly vanished as he looked back at his sister. He didn't say anything but looked her scornfully in her eyes.

After a few tense moments, Justin shook his head and walked out the room, leaving Anne-Jean standing there by herself.

She didn't do anything, but after a minute or so, she heavily sat on the bed. She began fiddling with a loose string on the sheet when she heard her younger sister enter the room.

"Anbie?"

Anne-Jean smiled heartily. Serenity still couldn't pronounce her name just right.

"Yes, CC?"

"Granmie wanna know if you're ready?"

Looking around the room once more, Anne-Jean sighed as she got up off the bed.

"I'm ready."

"What'z wrong?"

Anne-Jean chuckled.

"Life, little sister. Life is what's wrong."

Serenity titled her head as she stared at her sister. Anne-Jean began pushing her sister to move as she trailed behind her.

"Come on. Granma P's waiting on us right?"

"Oh yeah, right! Let's go!" she said as she sprinted out of the room.

Anne-Jean smiled. She didn't want to see that light leave her sister's eyes, like it had left hers.


	8. Chapter 8

Kim put her hand to her forehead as she tried to tune her mother out. She knew she could only blame herself for this.

"Mom, this is not up for discussion."

"Kim, you were almost killed last night."

"So? A bullet was shot through my house and almost took away my life. The world doesn't stop spinning just because of that. I still have an obligation to Ron," she said as she took the list of lawyers available in Middleton from Monique, "Thank you."

"Kim, I'm surprised at you."

"Mom, Ron's next trial is next week. I need to find a lawyer within six days otherwise the court will appoint him one. And I sure as hell am not gonna let them do that as long as Lawson's on the case."

The sound of broken glass hitting the floor caused Kim and Anne to look up to see Justin standing at the foot of the steps, his hands trembling, his mouth opened, gawking in disbelief at the two women.

"Oh, God."

Justin continued to shake his head.

"You…you were almost…killed?"

"Justy…"

"You lied to me!" he said pointing an accusing finger towards his grandmother.

"Now Justin…"

"You lied! You said someone tried to break in!"

"Justin…"

"But someone shot at her! You lied to me!"

Anne was at a loss for words as she continued to stare at her grandson.

"Yes Justin, I did lie to you about what happened but it was only in the best interest for you and your sister."

"Liar!"

"Alright Justin, that's enough," Kim said as she approached her son.

"But Mom…"

"No but's, Justin. You will not talk to your grandmother in that manner nor will you disrespect her as such."

Kim turned her head to the living room entrance to call her father, who had appeared there the moment he heard the glass break when it fell on the floor.

"Dad, Justin and the others are ready. Can you put them in the car for me, please?"

James walked over to Justin to grab his hand but he pushed it away aggressively as he started for the door.

"I can walk," he said as he slammed the door behind him.

"Justin!"

"Let it go, Mom. He knows what's going on. Let him release his anger so he'll be calm by the time you guys get to the jail."

"Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Positive. I'll visit Ron in a couple days. I can't face him right now."

"As you wish," Anne said as she walked over to the foot of the stairs, "Annie, Serenity, Jason, let's go. We're leaving."

A series of footsteps were heard coming down the stairs. After a few seconds, Kim saw her two youngest children sprint out the door without taking the time to grab their jacket's before they left. Luckily, Anne-Jean wasn't far behind and she picked up their coats and her own before walking over to the door.

"Bye, Mom,"

"Bye, honey. Tell your father I said hi and that I'll see him in a few days."

Anne-Jean nodded as she closed the door behind her.

As Kim heard her parents pull out of the driveway, she continued to look though the list of district attorneys that Monique had printed out for her. After circling a few, she put the paper down and went in the kitchen to get something to drink.

"Hey, Kim. I think I found someone," Wade said from the living room. Kim returned in a few minutes and joined her friend at the computer.

"What you got?"

"I found a lawyer here in Italy. Says they're a DA, that they've been both an executive and commander officer. Graduated top of their class at the University of Lowerton. They've been an executive assistant district attorney and chief assistant district attorney, and worked with the first assistant district attorney in Italy. They were appointed by the president of the United States _and_ served under an attorney general. Kim, this person's like a mirror image of you."

"Sounds like my kind of lawyer. Are they opened?"

"Hold on…Yep. They're not seeing anyone right now, but that could be because their on break."

"Call 'em," Kim said as she walked over to the closet to get her jacket.

"Are you sure," he said once he got a good look on who the person was.

"Am I sure? Wade, you just said this person was a mirror image of me," she said as she slipped her coat on.

"Yeah, but…"

"Well, I need someone like that on this case. If I can't be the bulldog here, I need someone to be a wolf."

"But Kim…"

"Look, I gotta run to the office to pick up a few things. I should be back in about an hour. Call the DA and tell me what the person says when I get back."

Before Wade could even respond, Kim was out the door and driving her silver 2006 Lexus ES 330 out of her driveway and down the road.

Wade winced as he looked back over to the computer screen. He knew all kinds of Hell would break loose if he called this person up. It would start the moment they and Kim would meet.

* * *

Ron chuckled as he continued to listen to his youngest children's remarks.

"And Ms. Somora said we were da top of da class to get a joke like that."

"Uh-Huh. She did. She did."

"Is that so?"

Serenity nodded.

"Yep. We waz da only ones to get de _'What am I?'_ joke. I mean, how could you not get that?"

"'_When you know me, I am nothing. When you don't know me, I am something.'_ I mean, isn't it obvious that it's a riddle?"

"How could you not know da answer was a riddle?"

Ron laughed.

"So let me get this straight. The answer to the riddle, was a riddle?"

"Uh-Huh," they answered in unison.

Ron pondered on it for a while, before carelessly flicking his hand with a shrug.

"Well, it's official. I am _not_ smarter than a five-year old."

"Daddy!" they said as they pushed him playfully.

"Stoppable."

Ron looked up to see one of the officer from the previous session opening the door to the congregation room.

"Visitation for these two is over."

"Yes sir," Ron said as he turned back to face his children. The large smiles that were etched across their faces earlier were replaced by small, disappointed frowns.

"Bye, Daddy. We love you," they said in unison as they gave their father a hug. Ron returned it, knowing that the CO behind him was scowling. He had a hard enough time convincing the guard to let his children sit on his lap, let alone give him a hug. But he didn't care. This was the only time he had with his children before his next trial. He was going to savor it.

After giving his children a kiss on the cheek, the two slowly climbed off their father's lap and walked out of the room.

"Final visitor, please step forward."

Ron looked up to see his eldest child step through the door, that miserable expression still on his face.

Ron sighed.

It was time for them to talk.

* * *

Wade hurriedly scanned through the list of names on his computer screen.

He had to find another lawyer. Any lawyer. Just not this one. He couldn't use this one. All Hell would break loose if he did. He couldn't afford to let any more drama into this family. He just couldn't. They had enough to deal with as is. He couldn't bring any more havoc to the Possible and Stoppable home.

Sighing again, Wade hit the _'Next'_ button on all of the five pages he had opened. He had to find another lawyer. He just had to.

* * *

For ten whole minutes, Ron and Justin sat in silence. Ron was hoping Justin would say something but he wouldn't budge. He just kept looking down at the floor, occasionally closing his eyes and stifling the few sniffles that escaped his nose.

Ron had to get a conversation in soon. They only had ten minutes left together. The guard already deducted ten minute from his original visitation since they didn't start immediately. Ron couldn't afford for him to deduct anymore. This was the only time he had with his son before his next trial.

Knocking the table twice, Ron began.

"Hey, JJ."

Justin's only response was to look up to his father.

"How's it been?"

Justin bit his bottom lip. He couldn't say things were fine, since he knew they weren't.

"Well, hell hasn't broken loose."

Ron cringed.

Justin immediately realized his mistake.

"I don't mean that in a bad way."

"How do you make something like that sound good?"

Justin furrowed his brow and pursed his lips.

"Well, for the record, I thought things would be going a whole lot worse than they are now."

Ron sat back in his chair as he rolled his tongue around and stared at his son.

Justin lowered his head. He knew this would not turn out well.

"Justin, what exactly is going on at home? What's wrong? Go ahead and answer me."

Justin sighed. He tightly closed his eyes to keep for crying.

"Things aren't good, Dad."

"What's wrong?"

Justin coughed as he put tried muffled the sobs that were trying desperately to escape his lips. Ron exhaled loudly as he placed his hand over his son's.

"Justin…"

"Stoppable," the guard warned as he watched his prisoner put his hand over the boy who appeared to be his son.

Ron ignored him.

"Justin, you need to calm down."

Justin continued to cough.

"I know it's hard, but you need to relax and calm down."

Justin opened his eyes as he looked at his father.

"It's okay to cry, son."

Justin's eyes widened.

"W-What do you mean?"

"I mean, you need to let go. Calm down. Stop holding in all your anger and frustration."

"I'm not holding in anything."

"Justin…"

"Dad, I can't cry. I can't. I have to be strong for, Mommy. I have to be strong for the twins. I have to be strong for everybody!"

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do!"

"Justin…"

"Daddy, I can't cry! Crying doesn't solve anything! I can't let anybody know that I'm weak and giving up…"

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on there a second, JJ," Ron said as raised his hands to stop Justin from talking, "How does crying show that you're weak?"

"Dad, crying doesn't solve a damn thing!"

"I agree. Crying doesn't solve a damn thing. But crying about this doesn't mean that you're weak, or that you're giving up."

"Dad…"

Ron raised his hand to tell Justin to let him speak.

"Justin, I cried for two weeks when I was in here and I still do. I cried when those officers dragged me out of the house and held a gun to my face. I cried both before and after your mother was put off this case. Are you insinuating that I am weak?"

"Of course not!"

"And because I've been crying, I'm all of a sudden giving up?"

"No, never!"

"You're damn right never. I didn't do anything to be in this position and I'm gonna keep fighting until the court knows that. Your mother's gonna keep fighting, your grandparents are gonna keep fighting, your uncles are gonna keep fighting, _everyone_, is gonna keep fighting because they all know I didn't do a damn thing to be where I am right now."

Justin began wiping at the few tears that had managed to escape the firm grasp on his eyes.

"Do you see where I'm getting at, son? Yes crying doesn't do anything but it doesn't add onto anything either. Crying may actually give you some relief. You'd be surprised how much better you'd feel once you get all those tears out."

Justin wiped at his nose as it began to sting.

"Justin, look at me."

Justin grimaced.

"Look at me."

Reluctantly, Justin looked up to meet his father's gaze. His eyes were hard but full of concern.

"Justin, you need to stop holding on to this and release whatever frustration and anger you're feeling right now. It's not going to end well. For you and for us as a family. You need to release all this tension you are feeling before you hurt someone."

Justin winced, which caused Ron to furrow his brow at his response.

"Justin?"

"Dad, I think…I think I already hurt someone."

Ron raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I think…I think AJ hates me."

"Justin."

"I'm serious. I said some things to her…and she took it pretty rough."

"How rough?"

"Real rough. She threw a 6'' long brush at me and missed by mere inches. She broke Uncle Tim's mirror."

Ron winced.

"I told you."

"Oh I'm not wincing at that. I'm wincing at the fact that she broke the mirror. That thing was expensive."

"Dad…"

"Look JJ, Annie is your sister. She will always be your sister. She loves you. She will always love you. She may not like you too much right now, but she will always love you."

Justin smiled a weak smile.

"The best thing you could do for her right now is say you're sorry, okay?"

"Yes, sir."

Ron smiled.

"Good. Now, you said your mother was coming by in a few days, right?"

Justin's smile immediately vanished. Tears began to well up in his eyes and concerned Ron. Every time Kim's name was mentioned this was the kind of response he'd receive.

"Justin?"

"Daddy…"

"Justin what's wrong?"

Justin began wiping at his tears.

"Daddy…Mommy…"

"What's wrong with your mother?" Ron asked as fear began to grip his heart once more. First Lawson, now Justin. No one had anything good to say about Kim lately.

"Daddy…"

"Is she sick? Did something happen?"

"…Dad…"

"Time's up. Visitation is over," the guard said.

Ron ignored him.

"What's wrong with your mother?"

"Time's up," he bellowed once more.

"Justin…"

"Time's up!"

"Dammit, man! Something's wrong with my wife! Can you please give us like two minutes?"

"Time's up, Mr. Stoppable."

"Justin, what was that part? What's wrong with your mother?"

"Dad…"

"Mr. Stoppable!"

Ron slammed his fists on the table. He turned around to face the officer.

"What?"

"Time's up. Visitation _is_ over!"

"I'm trying to find out what's wrong with my wife!"

"Dad…"

"This is CO number 213. Prisoner 867's visitation is over and he won't yield. I'm going to need backup," the guard said as he spoke into his handheld transceiver.

"_Roger that. We're on our way."_

Fear gripped Justin's heart as he looked back and forth from the officer, to his father, and back to the officer again.

"Dad…"

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me? You're calling in backup?"

"Dad…"

"What did I do?"

"Dad…"

Loud knocks were heard coming from the other side of the congregation door.

"_213 we're here to assist."_

Justin began to panic as he watched the guard open up the door to see two other burly officers enter the congregation room.

"Dad!"

"That him right there?" one of the officers asked as he pointed towards Ron.

"Yes, that's him."

"Dad!"

"Mr. Stoppable, we're going to need you to…"

"No!" Justin screamed as he stepped between the officers and his father.

"Boy…"

"No, leave him alone! I'll leave! I'll leave! Please, don't hurt my father!"

"Justin…"

"Dad, no! It's not worth it! I'll tell you next time!"

Before Ron could answer, Justin grabbed his pack and ran out of the room, leaving Ron standing there with the three officers behind him.

"Let's go, Stoppable."

Ron found himself grinding his teeth in frustration. He had to find out what was wrong with Kim and soon.

* * *

Kim zipped up her briefcase as she put the last of her things in it.

"There. All done."

The sound of clapping behind her startled Kim and caused her to abruptly turn around turn around. She grimaced in disgust once she realized who it was. As if her day wasn't bad enough.

"My, my. That was a good job you did of cleaning out your desk, Mrs. Stoppable. Are you maybe taking a vacation?"

"Go away, Lawson," Kim said as she opened up the front part of her briefcase and put a few of her of her smaller possessions inside of it.

"Oh c'mon, Kim. You know I'm only teasing," he said as he walked over to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder before having it rudely shoved away from his colleague.

"Oh, don't be like that, Kim," he said as he approached her once more.

"Don't touch me," she said as she held up her finger. She quickly walked over to her desk to take something out of her drawer.

"C'mon, Kim. We used to be good friends."

"Key word. _Used_," she said as she slammed a compartment in her file cabinet and took out a piece of paper.

"Kim…"

"Don't…touch me," she said as she slid herself away from him and over to her desk.

"I'm serious, Kim. We used to be real good friends. What happened?"

"You happened, Lawson," she said as she slammed a drawer.

"I happened? What do you mean, _I happened_?"

Kim put down the piece of paper she held in her hand as she turned around to face him.

"I mean, _you_ happened, Preston. The moment you stepped into that courtroom and took me off the case."

Lawson chuckled.

"You still on that?"

Kim didn't answer.

"Kim, I did what I had to do."

"And what was that? Be a bastard?"

"Would you stop calling me that?"

"What would you prefer? Asshole, a son of bitch, a mother…"

"Preston, Kim. My name is Preston. I wanna be called, Preston."

"You don't deserve the title Preston. Your _name_ does not fit the title of Preston. Preston means _'a priest's town. Estate. _It is also a beautiful city. That title doesn't fit you. You are neither beautiful nor do you present anything related to being holy like a priest. You're a backstabbing, lying, shrewd little man, who loves to make other's feel pain and see the distress and hurt on their faces."

Lawson chuckled.

"You're funny."

Kim screamed as she picked up one of piece of papers that she had stacked on her desk just moments ago.

"You've always been funny. I like you."

"Go to hell."

"Hurting words. Hurting words. Very hurtful choice of words."

Kim didn't respond.

"I mean, you're calling me all sorts of names. Cruel, bastard, jackass. But, I'm not the one who didn't tell my husband I was pregnant."

Kim's eyes snapped opened.

"I mean, how low can you get? The man's in prison, and as hard it is for him already, you still didn't tell him you're pregnant? Did you even visit him?"

Kim stopped fiddling with the piece of paper in her hand, but she didn't turn around to face him.

"I mean, you can't hide it from him forever? He'd surely noticed. Hell, I noticed. That small little bump can't be hidden from sweaters or suits anymore. What are you like thirteen weeks?"

Kim made a rude sound.

"Whatever, that's your business. You deal with it. That's something you and Ron have to talk about."

"I hope you burn and rot in hell for all eternity."

Lawson chuckled.

"Again with the humor."

Kim again made a rude sound.

"I'm humoring you?"

"Yeah. You kinda are."

"You cruel selfish bastard."

Lawson chuckled again.

"Cruel? Selfish? I sent a bouquet of flowers to your house this morning because that bullet plummeted straight through your house and I thought you'd be scared. Is that selfish? I hardly believe that's cruel."

Kim pursed her lips as she turned around to face him.

"How'd you know a bullet was shot through my house last night?"

"Your family's not good with secrecy. I saw those investigators leave your house. They had the bullet and glass shards in tow."

"Why were you by my house?"

"Didn't I just tell you I sent you a bouquet of flowers?"

Kim cut her eyes at him.

"You know something."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You know something and you're not telling."

"Kim, everything I know I've already told you. You're the one who's so damn insecure."

"Insecure?"

"Yeah, insecure. Ever since this case began you've been on my back for no reason. I didn't do anything. We're friends remember? Colleagues?"

Kim rolled her tongue in her mouth for a while before walking away from him.

He followed her.

"Seriously, Kim. Let's put all this behind us. Look, your husband's trial is in a couple days…"

"He shouldn't be on trial in the first place."

"…and after he's put away…"

"Hold up, Preston!" Kim said as she spun around to face him, "Put away?"

"Yeah. Put away. He murdered my client remember?"

"Ron didn't murder anyone."

Lawson chuckled.

"Denial is not pretty on you, Kim."

"He didn't murder anyone."

"Kim…"

"Why the hell do you believe so much that he would do such a thing anyway?"

Lawson pursed his lips as he looked towards his red-headed _friend_.

"Kim, you're my friend. Okay. I love you. I really do love you. But your husband has hurt someone very close to me with this murder. I told you before I would not, and will not rest until that man is lawfully behind bars where he belongs."

"Preston…"

"That husband of yours killed my best friend's fiancée. Ruoy was like a brother to me and he's no longer here thanks to Mr. Stoppable. He caused Melissa so much pain and now he's where he belongs. In criminal confinement."

"He didn't murder anyone."

"Keep telling yourself that. You're the one who's gonna end up a murderer like your no good husband."

_Slap!_

Lawson grabbed his jaw as he the burning feeling of Kim's slap across his face caused a sharp pain to shoot up the left side of his mouth.

"You son of a bitch!"

"Kim…"

Lawson grunted as another he felt powerful slap across his face.

"How dare you!"

"Kim!"

Lawson winced as he felt his jaw begin to swell with Kim's third hit. He was beginning to get angry. Kim was really pissing him off.

"Dammit Kim! Will you just…" he again was cut off as Kim punched him square in his jaw. He wiped at the blood that began trickling down his mouth. He pursed his lips as he stared angrily at Kim. Dark gray eyes met enraged green ones.

"Kim, I'm going to ask you one more time, cause you're really starting to…" Lawson felt another felt another blow to his chin.

That was it for him.

Before Kim could say another word, Lawson lifted his fist and punched her as hard as he could in her face, the force of his punch sent Kim crashing into one of the hallway walls.

Kim struggled to get to her feet. A click to her right caused her to pause. Her eyes widened to see Lawson holding a black metallic pistol in his hand. She stared in disbelief at the man before her.

Lawson was bearing his teeth as he looked at her with hard angry eyes.

Kim trembled at the sight and began hyperventilating.

A few tense moments passed before Lawson realized what was happening. Shocked by what he had done, he dropped the handgun as he himself began to shake. He nervously began shaking his head as he looked up to see Kim, trembling uncontrollably as she stared at him.

Lawson began to cry.

"Oh…Oh God…Kim…I…I didn't mean to…Oh God! Kim…Kim…I…"

Kim never took her gaze off Lawson. She suddenly felt weak and her knees buckled beneath her. Soon, it all became too much for her and she collapsed.

She wasn't awake to see the same hands that had held her at gunpoint just moments ago, pick her up, put her in his car, and speed off to the nearest hospital he could find.


	9. Chapter 9

"Mrs. Stoppable, Mrs. Stoppable. Wake up, Mrs. Stoppable."

Kim grunted as she turned her head slightly.

"Wake up," the nurse continued to lightly shake Kim's shoulder.

"Why isn't she waking up?" Wade asked, shaking Kim on the other shoulder, "Is she on something?"

"She's been given nothing. She's being observed," the nurse said as she shook Kim harder, bringing her out of her deep sleep, "She has a mild concussion. Mrs. Stoppable. Open your eyes, Mrs. Stoppable."

Kim groggily opened her eyes.

"C'mon Kim," Wade said, again shaking Kim, "Wake up."

At first unsure of where she was, Kim stared up at the brilliantly lit fluorescent ceiling.

Turning her head slightly, Kim looked at the petite, middle-aged, Philippino nurse standing alongside her bed.

"Mrs. Stoppable, how do you feel? How does your head feel?"

"I've felt better," Kim said. She had a dull throbbing headache that pervaded her entire skull.

"Hey Kim," Wade said, "What happened? The hospital called home and told me you were here. I was worried sick."

"Sorry about that," Kim said as she grasped her head. She felt the bandages wrapped firmly around her head.

The nurse checked Kim's pulse.

"A young man about your age dropped you off here. Said you collapsed and hit your head on a desk when you fell. That's how you got that knot on your head," she said pointing towards the large bump on Kim's forehead covered by the bandages.

"He said he couldn't stay. Said he had something to take care of. Didn't leave a name, but he said to tell you sorry about thirty times," she said as she wrote something down on her clipboard.

"I'll be right back. Keep her talking, Mr. Load."

"Sure," Wade said as he laid his coat on the foot of the bed as the nurse walked out.

Kim frowned as she tried to get more comfortable in the narrow, overly used hospital beds.

"What exactly happened, Kim?"

"Lawson happened," she said as she gingerly touched her forehead, wincing soon after.

"Oh, man. What did he do this time?"

"I don't really remember."

"Damn, Kim."

"I don't. Just a few major spots."

"Such as?"

"He called me names."

"Like that's new," he said as he rolled his eyes.

"He said Ron deserved to be in jail."

"Damn."

"He said I was a murderer like…"

Kim's eyes suddenly widened.

"Wade! The babies! How are the babies?"

"Babies?"

"My babies, Wade!"

"Oh, you mean the twins."

"Wade!"

"I know which twins, Kim."

"How are they?"

"Fine. Doc said they're fine. Weren't even affected by your fall."

Kim let out a sigh.

"That's a relief."

"I'll say."

Kim began grinding her teeth. The pain in her head was making her eyes tear.

"Does Mom know I'm here?"

"Whole family."

"Damn. The kids too?"

"Two oldest ones. Justy and Annie."

"Damn it," she said as she put her hand to her head. Her head hurt too much to scream _'Dammit'_—the more powerful expletive.

"What? You think I'd just rush down here and not tell your family?"

"You could of."

"That's insensitive, Kim."

"Man, whatever," she said as she lightly began touching her head again.

"What else happened at the office?"

"Well, after I slapped Preston…"

"You slapped him?"

"Bitch-slapped him."

"Damn."

"Five times."

"Damn, Kim."

"The bastard was really pissing me off."

"Okay, okay. What happened after that?"

"After I slapped him, he turned around and punched me right in my jaw…"

"He punched you?"

"…and sent me crashing into one of the hallway walls."

"Damn. Didn't know Lawson was that strong."

"And while I was getting up, I heard a click, and turned around to see Preston holding a pistol and pointing it in my direction…"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. He had a gun?"

"I couldn't believe it."

"He had a gun?"

"And I was so scared…"

"He had a gun? And he was aiming at you?"

"Can you pass me that bottle of water over there, Wade?"

Wade walked over to the small table across the room and brought the water bottle back to Kim.

"Are you pressing charges?"

"He didn't shoot, Wade."

"That doesn't matter, Kim! He held a pregnant woman at gunpoint!"

Kim flicked her hand.

"Whatever. I don't have time to deal with Preston."

"Kim…"

"Were you able to contact that lawyer for me?"

"No. They didn't leave a phone number. All they left was their address."

"Good," she said as she sat up.

She elbowed the railing. "Lower this thing for me please."

Wade had no problem lowering the railing.

"Are you sure you're not gonna press charges?"

"He didn't do anything, Wade. The most he did was shock me so much that I passed out."

Kim touched the knot on the front of her head again. The bandage wasn't doing anything to quiet the pain—her head was throbbing.

"Like I said earlier, I don't have time to deal with Preston. In fact, I'm getting out of here," she said as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"Kim, you can't."

"I will."

"No, no, no," the nurse said hurrying over towards Kim, "You cannot get out of bed."

"I can if I'm leaving."

"Kim, you have a concussion."

"A headache, Wade. I'll take two aspirin when I get home."

Sliding off the bed, Kim landed squarely on her bare feet.

"Where're my shoes?"

"Mrs. Stoppable, you must not get up."

"Where're my shoes?"

Wade looked at the white plastic bag at the foot of the bed.

"They might be in this bag."

He opened the bag. Kim's dress shoes and jacket were inside.

"Mrs. Stoppable, the doctor wants you to stay in the hospital for twenty-four-hour observation. You should not walk around. You could black out."

"Nurse, I appreciate that," Kim said as she took her shoes from Wade, "But I have to go. What you could do is give me a couple of painkillers. That would help."

Kim stepped into her shoes. Her head hurt too much for her to bend over and put them on.

"You cannot be given anything. You are to be observed."

"I can observe myself in my own bed. You have all my information so you can bill me."

"You cannot just leave. The doctor must discharge you."

"I'm saving him the trouble," Kim said as she picked up her purse, not at all surprised that Lawson brought it. He wasn't lying when he said they used to be good friends.

"Kim, you should listen to the nurse."

"Wade, can you drive me to the airport?"

"Ma'am, you should not drive."

Ignoring the nurse, Kim continued on toward the _'Exit'_ sign.

"Why do you want to go to the airport?" Wade asked as he put on his own jacket as he and Kim hurried through the hospital.

"I wanna talk to Mr. Sinclair. See if he can get us a ride to Italy," she said as she began unwrapping the bandage from around her head.

"Whoa, whoa, Kim. Are you serious about this? You have a concussion."

"Had it before. This time's no different," she said as she tossed her blood-stained bandaged into the garbage receptacle outside the hospital door.

"Kim, please tell me you're not serious?"

"Where'd you park, Wade?"

Wade pointed towards his remodeled blue Honda Insight siding directly across the hospital in the parking lot.

Kim started for it.

"Kim I'm serious. You can't go through with this. It's too risky."

Spotting the driver's seat, Kim held her hand out to Wade.

"Keys."

"You're not seriously thinking of driving are you?"

"Keys."

"Kim…"

"_Keys_, Wade. Keys."

"I'm not letting you drive."

"I'm not drunk, Wade. I don't need a designated driver."

"Kim…"

"Wade, if you're not gonna let me drive, then you better get your ass over here and drive me to the airport, cause either way, I'm going to Italy to see that lawyer."

"Kim…"

"Keys."

Wade cringed. He tossed Kim the keys and she caught it with her left hand. Pressing a button, she opened the car door and walked over to the passenger's seat. She got in and closed the car door, soon putting the key in the ignition and starting up the car.

Wade sighed as he got into the driver's seat. He put the car in drive as he pulled out toward the road.

You really couldn't tell Kim Possible, now Stoppable, what to do.

* * *

Ron wasn't the least bit surprised when he saw Lawson in the congregation room to come visit him once more.

What he was surprised to see was the look on his face.

Lawson's face was completely ashen. He was sweating all over, and he kept fiddling with his hands every so often.

Even the way he was dressed too Ron off guard.

Usually, Preston wore a snug suit with tissued pockets, polished dress shoes, and had a sinister smirk on his face.

This time, he was wearing tan dress pants, a dress shirt that was unbuttoned and hung loosely, untucked, over his pants. And that sinister smirk was nowhere in sight. Just a small frown, a furrowed brow, and anxious concerned eyes.

Whatever the reason he was there, Ron knew this could not be good.

Then again, when were Lawson's visits ever good?

Preston was a nervous wreck. He couldn't believe what he was about to do. He knew he owned Kim this little much for what he pulled at the office. He was still in shock about it himself. Never once in his life had he done something so careless and stupid. He could just slap himself upside his head and kick himself in the ass for what he'd done. He just couldn't believe he'd do something like that to Kim. Winning back her friendship would be incredibly difficult if not impossible by now.

His father always had two sayings that Preston always resented. There was the first which was _Don't shit where I eat_ and the other which was _A hard head makes for a soft ass_.

Preston didn't think the latter of the two applied to him very much, but he certainly knew the first one did.

Hadn't he shit where Kim ate since this whole case started?

Preston nerves got all that much worse when he saw Ron step into the room. He knew he could tell he was distraught, but he had to be brave. He had to do this. He owned Kim.

Preston was gonna beat the shit out of his older brother for giving him that gun in the first place.

Ron sat down in the chair across from Lawson.

The guard stood at the door.

"Your visitation is thirty minutes. Remember Stoppable, no contact."

"Yes sir."

At that, Preston stood up and approached the guard.

"Excuse me, but can you give us some privacy? I have something very personal to discuss with Mr. Stoppable."

The guard raised his eyebrow.

"I do not feel comfortable having others listen to my private conversations."

"If anything happens on my watch, it's my head."

"But your head would be safe since you wouldn't technically be watching."

"Look…"

"Sir, I'm a lawyer. One of the best in Colorado. I'm the one who put this man here while I was on his case. So I know who and what kind of man he is. I'm about to discuss something very personal with him and I do not want listening ears," he said with the same firmness as the officer.

"Look buddy…"

"Preston."

The officer cut his eyes.

"Look officer, I'm obligated to the law. Like I said, I'm a lawyer. I know what I stand for and who I stand for. I know the laws and restrictions you apply here. I can hold them just as much as you can. All I'm asking is for a little privacy with Mr. Stoppable."

The officer stared at Preston for a while before answering.

"You have ten minutes."

"Forty."

"Ten."

"Forty."

"Ten…"

"Look man, the full visitation is thirty minutes. What I have to discuss with Mr. Stoppable is very private, sir. You've already wasted five minutes of my time, therefore, I'm adding an extra ten, making my visitation forty. Should anything happen that would cause Mr. Stoppable to violate one of your rules, I shall call you but until then, I suggest you leave now before I have the right to put you in the same position as you're prisoner here," he said pointing to Ron, who was listening to the whole conversation with great interest.

The officer scowled as he exited the congregation room. He didn't say anything, but closed the door behind him. That was when Lawson took the liberty of locking the door and doing something technical with the lock that only someone like Wade would understand.

Preston smiled to himself as he turned back around to face Ron. Instantly, all that confidence and edge he had when he was confronting the officer melted away the moment he saw Ron.

Trying to calm himself down, Preston slowly walked back over to his seat.

"Dude, you mean all I had to do to get them to leave was to ask them?" Ron said as he kept glancing over to the door where the guard stood only moments ago.

"Not really, Mr. Stoppable. You need experience for that."

"Yeeaah, okay. So why did you tell the officer to leave?"

Preston exhaled loudly and closed his eyes. Maybe that first saying his father taught him did apply to him. This was definitely a hard lesson he was going to learn and he knew he was only gonna hurt himself.

"Mr. Sto—Ron. I sent the guard away cause I knew that something would happen today that would get you in a lot of trouble and that's something you don't deserve right now, cause I'm pretty sure your actions as well as your reactions is only to be expected from what I'm about to tell you."

"What are you talking about, Lawson?"

Preston exhaled loudly again.

"Ron, I'm afraid that I may have done something to Kim that may have aggravated her condition and killed our friendship."

Preston saw Ron tense up as Kim's name was brought up. He knew it was only a matter of time before what he knew would happen happened.

"What condition? What exactly is wrong with Kim and don't front with me, Lawson. I wanna what this damn condition everyone keeps talking about concerning my wife. What condition?"

Preston gaped at Ron. Nobody still hadn't told him yet?

"You mean you still don't know?"

"No, I don't. And it's frustrating me."

"Damn, Ron! What kind of family do you have? God! I have to be the one to tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Your wife's pregnant, Ron. That's what this big condition is that everyone's talking about. Kim's pregnant with _your_ child. Well, children. She's supposed to be having twins but…"

Preston's rattling didn't even register in Ron's mind. He lost him at the phrase _'Your wife's pregnant'_. For an instant he even forgot where he was.

"W-What did you just say, Lawson?"

"Your wife is pregnant, Ron. I can't believe you've gone so far without knowing. She should have told you before this whole drama even started."

Ron couldn't believe it.

"Kim's pregnant? How far?"

"Should be thirteen weeks by now. She really can't hide it anymore."

Ron still couldn't believe it. How could he not know this?

"I can't believe this."

"What, you're not happy?"

"No."

"You're upset?"

"No."

"Then what are you…"

"I don't know, Lawson! Dammit! I don't know!"

Preston huffed.

"Well, don't get mad at me. You have no reason to. At least not yet," he said, thinking about the reason he even came there in the first place.

Ron glared at him.

"What do you mean I have no reason to be angry with you? You're the reason I'm in this damn situation in the first place!"

"I'm not the one who impregnated your wife."

"You're the reason I can't support my wife now that she's pregnant!"

"She's been pregnant for thirteen weeks aka three months and is now in her fourth. She had plenty of times to tell you before I even came into the picture. You're the one who screws her every day and night. You should know that some time that little orgasm you two created would eventually lead a sperm to fertilize an egg."

Ron's eyes widened at Preston's vile way of speaking.

"But you know what, that's between you and Kim. Maybe I should just get to the reason that I'm here in the first place…"

"Yeah, you do that."

Preston cringed at Ron's harsh tone.

"Why are you here, Pres? Please tell me so I can let down my urge to resist beating the shit out of you."

Preston smirked.

"You'll be doing that anyway by the time I'm done, so your threat doesn't concern me."

Ron cut his eyes.

"Anyway, let me start from the incident."

"What incident?"

Preston nearly smacked himself at Ron's statement.

"You don't know about the gunshot incident either?"

"Gunshot?"

"Damn, man. You're making me regret my decision to come here."

"What gunshot incident?"

Preston sighed.

"Ron, two nights ago, a bullet was shot through your house and almost killed Kim."

Ron tensed up at hearing this.

"I sent her flowers yesterday morning after I found out…"

"S-Someone shot at her?"

He could hear the hurt and pain in Ron's voice.

"Yes, Ron. Someone shot at her…"

"Oh, God!"

"But they missed. So don't get all worked up. They missed. Kim's not hurt in anyway…from _that_ incident," he said as he lowered his eyes.

"Why your emphasis on, _that_?"

Preston bit his lower lip. This was the part he was dreading, cause he knew Ron would take it the wrong way. But he owned this to Kim. He'd have to take the beatings like a man.

"Ron, earlier I stated that I may have done something to Kim that may have aggravated her condition and killed our friendship. And I resent doing what I did."

"What did you do?"

"Now, please try to understand that Kim and I used to be real good friends…"

"What did you do?"

"…and I suppose some of my light-hearted jokes kinda sent her over the edge…"

"What did you do?"

"…and ultimately killed our friendship for good…"

"Lawson. Cut the shit and tell me, what did you do?"

Preston exhaled loudly.

"Well, Kim and I were at the office. And…I said some things. She said some things. And…it ended up in me saying something kind of vile to her…and…she slapped me. Hard. Five times."

Ron winced.

"And I retaliated, and punched her in the face…"

"You punched her?"

"And she crashed into a wall…"

"You punched her? And she hit a wall?"

"And what I did after that I still can't believe…"

"What did you do?"

Preston saw the scared anxious look in Ron's eyes. As if it wasn't bad enough that he hit a woman, a pregnant woman at that, but what he did next, he only hoped he wouldn't be put on life support after this conversation.

"Ron, please understand that I was given the…"

"What did you do?"

"Ron, if you'd just give me the chance to…"

"What the hell did you do to my wife?"

Preston cringed as he fear began to envelop his entire body.

"I took out a pistol…"

He felt Ron's eyes widened.

"…pulled back the phantom to strike the firing pin…"

He could feel Ron's anger heat up.

"And held her at gunpoint."

A few tense moments passed between the two men. No words were spoken. Just uneven stares.

Thinking he could try to explain to Ron about what happened, Preston opened his mouth to speak.

But nothing ever came out.

Before he could even say something, Preston felt Ron's fist connect with his jaw, and felt a sharp pain shoot up his spine when he crashed straight into the wall.

"You fucking son of a bitch!"

Preston struggled to get to his feet. This was the exact reaction he thought he'd get from Ron if he told him what happened back at the office.

Before Preston was fully on his feet, Ron threw him across the room and he crashed into another wall.

Preston held his head as he felt Ron approach him once more.

"Ron, please…"

Preston was cut off as he felt Ron grab him and slam him against the wall, holding him by the collar.

"You held a pregnant woman at gunpoint?"

"If you'd just let me expla…"

"You held my wife at gunpoint?"

"I didn't…"

Preston didn't get to finish his sentence as Ron threw him across the room. He hit the congregation door, startling the officers on the other side.

"_What's going on in there?"_

Preston began to panic. He couldn't let them in to see what was happening.

"Nothing, officers everything is fine."

Preston turned to see Ron approaching him once more. Fear gripped his heart once he saw blue energy light up in the enraged man's eyes.

He knew exactly what it was. He had to try to explain to Ron what happened before it was too late.

"Ron, wait!"

"Shut up!"

"Ron, please let me explain…"

"_What is going on in there?"_

"Nothing. We're still talking."

Preston dodged Ron's assault by mere seconds, almost getting a fistful of MMP.

"Ron, please let me explain."

His words fell on deaf ears as he saw him approach him again.

"I didn't mean to pull out the gun. I really didn't. I-I was just so frustrated…"

"That's not a damn excuse!" Ron bellowed as he swung at Preston again, missing.

Preston ran to the other side of the room.

"I know. It's not an excuse. It wasn't supposed to happen."

Ron didn't answer as he swung at Preston again, this time hitting him and slamming him into the metal table, breaking it.

"_Open up—now!"_

"No, we're not done," Preston called weakly.

Preston began to panic as he realized his mistake of calling out to the officer.

"_The visitor is injured. We need to get this door opened."_

"No, officers. Everything's fine. Please just…"

"_Why did you lock the door? Open up!"_

Preston didn't know what to do as he saw Ron approach him once more. Struggling to his feet, Preston ignored the officer for the time being as he rushed to another side of the room.

"Ron, the gun was a gift from my brother. He gave it to me for protection."

Ron didn't answer as he continued to approach him.

"He thought I'd be in danger from this case. He thought I'd have some enemies. So he gave me his service pistol until the case was over."

Ron still didn't respond as he lifted his fist once more. Preston dodged the assault as he ran to the opposite side of the room.

"But that's still no excuse for doing what I did to Kim."

"_Open up this door right now!"_ the officer bellowed as he began shaking the knob on the other side.

Preston continued.

"Ron, you have to understand it was a mistake and…"

"Where is she?"

"Ron…"

"Where is she?"

"She in Middleton's Hospital Center. I checked her in last night."

"You put her in a hospital?"

"She collapsed after she hit her head…"

"What?"

Preston felt like slapping himself. He was digging himself in a deeper hole every time he opened his mouth.

"Ron, I didn't shoot! I didn't shoot at her! I dropped the gun after I realized what I'd done. I didn't shoot. Kim became overwhelmed and fainted. She hit her head on a desk when she fell. I drove her to the hospital afterwards."

Ron screamed and raised his fist.

Preston cowered and put his hand over his head as he prepared himself for the impact. Preston kept waiting for the blow, but he couldn't sense it coming. He opened his eyes to see Ron's blazing brown eyes. Tears stained his face and he was breathing heavily.

Preston blinked a couple times to see if Ron going to approach him.

He didn't.

After a few moments, Preston heard Ron grunted as he fell to his knees. Immediately he thought of rushing over to help him, but decided against it since he knew he was still enraged by what he had done.

Preston saw Ron put his hands to his face as painful sobs escaped his lips. He cringed as he looked upon the distraught man.

He shouldn't have done this. He never should have done this.

Preston felt his own tears fall down his face as he approached Ron.

He knelt down beside him.

"Ron?"

He didn't answer.

"Ron, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I…didn't mean to…"

"How is she?"

"Kim has a mild concussion since she hit the desk when she fell. But that's it. Your babies are fine. I talked to the doctor before I came here. He said the babies were fine. Your babies are fine. They weren't even affected by the fall."

Ron continued to cry.

"They said Kim should be fine too. They have her under twenty four-hour-observation."

Ron still continued to cry.

"Ron, man…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, man. I didn't mean to do this. I didn't mean to do this to Kim. I didn't mean to do this to you, to your kids, to your family. I'm…I'm sorry man. I wish I could take it back but…"

Preston couldn't stop crying. He couldn't stop apologizing. He knew what he did was wrong and he couldn't change it.

He heard the police banging on the door still.

Slowly getting up, not even caring how he looked, and ignoring the immense pain in his back, Preston started for the door. He carefully unlocked it and opened it up.

The officers rushed through the door, they're weapons drawn. They began surveying the room.

Preston put his hand on one of the officers' shoulders.

"Please, don't do anything to this man. He didn't do anything wrong. I assure you. He did nothing wrong."

And with that, Preston exited the congregation room, and slowly started for the jail's entrance.

The officers looked around the room in confusion. The table was broken. Chairs were thrown everywhere. Dents were in the firm sturdy walls. And prisoner 867 was on the floor crying like he had lost his life.

Whatever happened, they had no legitimate proof that Ron did anything wrong. So they put away their weapons, walked over to Ron, and for the first time since this whole thing started, gingerly helped him off the ground and walked him to his cell.


	10. Chapter 10

Preston slammed the front door as he entered his house. He threw his briefcase on the couch and walked into the kitchen with a huff. Throwing his keys on the counter, he opened up the fridge to see if he could find something to drink. Spotting a bottle of gin, he reached in and grabbed it.

"Drinking again, Pres?"

Preston scowled at hearing his older brother's voice. He was really the last person he wanted to see right now.

"Was your day that ruff? I mean seriously?"

"Go away, Bryson."

"I mean, what is drinking going to solve?"

"I just want a buzz, okay?" Preston said as he took the bottle opener from the counter and opened the bottle of gin.

"That'll give you more than a buzz, Pres."

Ignoring him, Preston took a shot glass from the cabinet and poured the gin in it.

"C'mon Preston, put the bottle down," Bryson said as he unfolded his arms and walked over to his brother.

"Get away from me, Bryson."

"Preston…"

"Man, I said get away from me!" He said as he slammed his glass on the ground, "What're you doing in my house anyway?"

"I came to see you."

"I don't want to see you."

"You don't have to. I let myself in."

"You can't just barge in my house like that. You're gonna get yourself shot."

"Where's your gun?" he said as he began cleaning up the glass shards.

"You're dumb-ass pistol is what got me in this mess in the first place," Preston said as he put the bottle of gin to his mouth.

"Now I know you've lost your damn mind," he said as he threw the glass in the garbage.

"Oh really?"

Bryson turned around to face his brother.

"Preston, I never told you to shoot the gun at Kim."

"Fuck you!"

"I gave you the pistol for protection…"

"Protection?" Preston had heard just about enough from his pompous older brother.

"Yes, protection. I gave you my service pistol because I knew there would be baddies out there that would try to get you for this. Never once did I tell you to use it against your colleague."

"I'm not listening to this," he said as he put the bottle to his head again and began drinking.

"See, there you go again. You're proving yourself to be very immature."

"I'm not no damn immature."

"Oh, I forgot. You don't complain nor are immature are you, Mr. _Lawyer_?" Bryson said as he leveled his eyes at his younger brother.

"I'm not going to allow you to pull me into a discussion about what I do versus what you do. You could have become a lawyer or even a doctor if you hadn't yawned your way through college and tried applying yourself."

"So now I've yawned my way through college just because I chose not to become a big time lawyer like my little bro? So I guess what I do is child's play."

"Fuck you, Bryson. Take your condescending ass out of my house."

"Don't take you frustrations out on me, Preston."

"Frustrations? I don't have any goddamn frustrations. I want you to get off my goddamn back and leave me the hell alone."

"What's up with you, Pres? Ever since this case started you've been pushing me away, like I did something wrong or deceived you."

"Man, whatever. I'm a grown-ass man. I have my own house and a wife. I don't need you looking after me like some dumbass adolescent. I don't need a nod from you as to what I can and can't do."

Bryson folded his arms.

"Yeah, you might be past the age of consent, but you have ways to go to get past the age of stupid.

Stunned, Preston gawked at his brother.

"That's right, I said it—stupid. Pres you act like you have no sense."

"Fuck you! Get the hell out of my house!"

"You may be my younger brother, Preston, but you will shut up and show me some respect before I shut your mouth myself."

"Respect? You barge in my house and lecture about all the wrongs that I've made in my life. I'm a lawyer dammit! And a good one at that. Maybe if you made something out of yourself like I did, you wouldn't be driven to belittle me every chance you get, or blame me for an action that was committed because you gave me lethal weapon! "

"Hold the fuck up, Preston!" Bryson said as he approached his sibling, "I did nothing to influence what you did to Kim Stoppable. I didn't tell you to take my pistol and hold the woman, a pregnant woman at that, at gunpoint! You can bring a horse to a lake but you can't make it drink. I gave you the pistol, but I didn't direct your hand to take out the gun and pull back on the phantom to strike the firing pin and hold her at gunpoint. You're the one who let your anger get the best of you and put that woman in the hospital. I will not let you blame me for what you did, nor will I let you shove your goddamn life down my throat. I _chose_ to do what I'm doing just like you _chose_ to be a lawyer. I'm not going to hear anymore shit from you about what I do because I'm damn good at it. I'm a law enforcement officer who has a life just as good as you, little bro. Okay? Read it. Memorize it. Eat it."

Preston wasn't fazed at all.

"Thank you for that long monologue about your life Officer Lawson. I really appreciate it. I'm sure it's really gonna help me in the long run."

"Damn it! What the hell is wrong with you Preston?"

"Everything, Bryson!" Preston said, still holding on to the bottle of gin, "I don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore!"

"What do you mean?"

Preston smashed the glass bottle against the side of his kitchen counter, immediately shattering it to pieces.

"Would you stop throwing stuff and tell me what the hell is going on with you?"

"Goddamn it!"

"Cut the crap, Preston! I'm not impressed by your little tantrums."

Preston snapped his head back at his brother.

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you too!" Bryson said as he approached his bother once more, "I'm not intimidated of you, Preston. I'm only trying to help you."

"Nobody asked for you goddamn help!"

"You didn't have to. I know you long enough to figure it out. So are you gonna tell me what's bothering you or not because I've got someplace to be."

Preston gawked at his bother.

"Are you serious? Are you fucking serious? I've been asking you to get the hell out of my house for the past twenty minutes!"

"Are you gonna tell me what's wrong with you?"

"You know you are a piece of work, you know that?"

"I'll take that as a no," Bryson said as he walked into the living room and picked up his coat.

"So that's it? You're leaving?"

"You're not telling me anything," he said as he began walking towards the front door.

"You gnaw at my skin for the past twenty minutes, leaving a behemothic hole in my neck and just leave for me to bleed to death?"

Bryson stopped and turned around to face his brother.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong with you or not, cause as I see it, I'm just wasting my time."

"Oh, you know what? Go. Just go. Get the hell out of my house."

"Are you going to tell me what's pissing you off so deeply?"

"Aww, damn!"

"Are you?"

Preston closed his eyes and exhaled loudly as he tried desperately to calm himself down. Bryson walked away from the door and closer to his younger brother.

"Pres, what do you mean you don't know what you're doing anymore? What's wrong?"

Preston opened his eyes and walked into the living room, Bryson right behind him.

"I mean, I don't know what I'm doing anymore," he said as he took a seat on the couch.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"I'm pretty sure that's self-explanatory."

"Coming from you? No, it's not."

Preston narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"You don't know what you're doing in terms of…what, Preston?"

"I don't what I'm doing in general! I mean, I think I've lost my mind."

"We all know you lost your mind, Preston. You lost it a long time ago. I wanna know what you're talking about now. You don't know what you're doing…"

"No, I don't know what I'm doing, Bryson. I don't."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't think I'm after the right guy anymore. I think I've been mislead," he said as he shot up out the chair.

"Aha, now we're getting somewhere," Bryson said as he sat down across from his brother. Preston sat back down with a thud.

"So, you don't think Ron Stoppable committed the murder anymore?"

"No."

"So…after all this, you just, for no reason, stopped believing that he killed, Ruoy?"

"I don't know, Bryson! Dammit! I don't know!"

Bryson slumped back in the chair and crossed his legs.

"Preston, let me just ask you something. What drove you to believing that Mr. Stoppable killed Ruoy in the first place?"

When he didn't answer, Bryson began to get suspicious.

"Preston? Why did you think Ron Stoppable killed Ruoy?"

"I…had a good reason and source."

Bryson raised his eyebrow.

"Preston, please don't tell me you put this man in jail based on a _he said-she said_ thing?"

"It's more complicated than you think."

Bryson's eyes widened.

"Preston!"

"Look, you wouldn't understand."

"I wouldn't understand? Preston, you put a man in jail and took him away from his family before you were even sure he was the culprit? You're a lawyer and you put this man in jail based on accusations?"

"It wasn't just accusations. I have more to…"

"Wait a minute, let me just ask you this," he said as he began talking up a blue streak, "The evidence you have collected. Where did you get it from?"

"What're you talking about?"

"The evidence you presented, or that you were going to present to the court. What was it based off of?"

Preston lowered his eyes.

"What, what, did you maybe catch like a photograph of Ron and Ruoy together, or had a tape recorder and heard him plotting to kill Ruoy or what?"

"I got it from…"

"Preston, please don't say you got it from a source."

"I didn't get it from _a_ source. I…"

"Oh, God! Preston!" Bryson said as he shot up out of the chair, "How could you be so stupid!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You! You're so stupid! You put a man in jail before you even had legitimate not to mention conclusive evidence that he did anything wrong!"

"I didn't just…"

"You took him away from his family and caused them pain that wasn't necessary and could have been avoided."

"I didn't mean to…"

"And on top of all that, you wanna leave now? After you took Kim off the case because you feared a _bias result_ would be produced?"

"Look, you don't know nothing about what I…"

"Shut up, Preston! You put that family through so much pain and…you know what, you better not back out of this case. In fact, you're not going to," Bryson said as he started for the door.

Preston was right on his heels.

"Excuse you?"

"You're not coming off that case. After all the turmoil you put this and the Stoppables through? No. Uh-Uh. You're staying on that case."

"Who are you to…"

"Preston, you're my brother and I love you. But I will not let you back out like some sort of naïve adolescent who steals money from their best friend and won't tell them or pay them back for fear of going to jail."

"Bryson…"

"I'm real disappointed in you, Preston. You're a lawyer. A goddamn lawyer. You should know a hell of a lot better than to do what you just did."

"So you're judging me?'

"What do you expect?"

"You didn't even give me a chance to explain myself."

"I shouldn't have to, cause you know what you did was wrong and why I'm disappointed in you," he said as he opened up the front door.

Preston chuckled.

"Disappointed. You're always disappointed in me. You never give me the benefit of the doubt. Not once. Not once have you ever given me any credit. Have you ever supported me or had faith in me. Not once, Bryson."

Bryson paused.

"Preston, why don't you take what you're saying right now and digest it, cause that's the same way you've treated Kim since this fiasco started."

Preston narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, and let me say something else to you that might help you later on. If you didn't have enough proof to seal the deal that Ronald Stoppable was guilty, you should have never put him behind bars in the first place."

Preston closed his eyes.

"Pres, I can't get you out of this mess. You're in for a boatload of trouble now, little bro. And I'm not gonna be there to fish you out."

And with that, Bryson put on his hat and walked out the door, closing it behind him, leaving Preston standing there, shaking his head the whole time.

* * *

Wade tried to still his shaking hands as he walked up the driveway of the lawyer her saw on the internet. He had been shaking since he drove Kim from the hospital to the airport, so much so, that he had to pull over and let her drive. After thinking over his actions a second time, Wade pleaded for Kim to let him take over but she refused. She also rejected his over to help her to Mr. Sinclair's office.

Concussion or not, Kim was going to see this lawyer and she wasn't going to let Wade slow her down.

Wade's panic only increased even more, once they got on the plane. He had a hell of a time keeping Kim awake and caught her dozing off about five times. It was sheer will that kept Kim's eyes open the whole ride.

Wade felt as though his heart was gonna fly right out of his chest once the taxi pulled up towards the white beach house where the lawyer stayed.

"Would you stop fidgeting, Wade. My God, you look like you've seen a ghost," Kim said as she rang the doorbell on the house.

"Oh, it's not a ghost I'm afraid of Kim. It's kinda what I think will happen the moment you and this lawyer meet."

"What are you talking about?"

"See, Kim, I didn't get the chance to tell you that…"

Wade's voice trailed off as he heard the front door of the house opened. His eyes widened as he slowly turned his head to face person at the door.

He winced when he heard Kim gasp. He closed his eyes for a brief second before reopening them to see the person he dreaded to see.

He saw a thin, curvy, tan skinned woman about 5'3", with short brown hair, and blue-green eyes, reflecting the same expression Kim had on her face, staring at her in shock, the same way Kim was staring at her.

Wade gulped. He knew this visit would not end well.

* * *

Justin sighed as he knocked on his sister's bedroom door. He slowly walked inside when he heard her call out to let him know he could come in.

He saw that she was on her bed lying down reading a book, which she immediately put down after seeing him enter the room.

Seating himself in a chair by her computer, Justin looked sorrowfully at his younger sister. That same look was reflected in her eyes.

After a few tense moments, he opened his mouth to speak. Anne-Jean did the same.

"I'm sorry," they said in unison, "What? I'm sorry."

Justin flailed his hands as he closed his eyes.

"Wa-Wait a minute. I don't want us to start talking like Uncle Tim and Uncle Jim."

Anne-Jean chuckled.

"Yeah. That'd be way too weird since JT and CC already do enough of that."

Justin smiled weakly.

"Can I go first?"

Anne-Jean made a gesture with her hand and Justin began.

"Look, Annie, I'm sorry. Okay? I'm sorry. And I mean for everything."

Anne-Jean furrowed her brow.

"AJ, I'm sorry for what I said to you, how I said them to you, for cursing at you, for yelling at you…everything. And, I'm sorry for calling you a drama queen and a spoiled little bitch. I was _way _out of line. I should have been more sensitive to the fact that you missed Daddy and that his being in jail was really taking its toll on you. You were right. I was cruel and insensitive, and I'm sorry Annie. I'm a horrible big brother but I'll try my best to be better."

Anne-Jean sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, facing her brother.

"Okay, first off, you are _not_ a horrible big brother. Mean at times, but you're not horrible. I don't know where or even why that thought entered you head but get it out right now because you are _not_ horrible. Second, I wanna say I'm sorry and you were right about me. I was being a spoiled drama queen."

"I didn't say a spoiled drama queen."

"I know. Just don't feel like saying a spoiled bitch. Anyway, you were right. I mean, I'm a Daddy's girl. You know that. Daddy spoiled me so much, I just lost sight of what was important. I should've been there for Mommy and the twins like you said. I was being conceited and arrogant and my crying was helping with the situation. I'm sorry, Justy."

Justin smiled weakly.

"It's okay, but I still feel bad for what I said."

"You should."

Justin raised his eyebrow.

"What? I'm not gonna deny that what you did was wrong. You were. But you did have a point. A big point."

"Thanks for the sensitivity."

"Yeah, no problem."

"Are we cool now?"

"I hope so."

Justin frowned.

"You hope so?"

"Justin, I want us to be okay. I really do. But, what you did earlier freaked me out."

"The cursing?"

"No. What you did last night."

Justin lowered his eyes.

"That thing…you did with the razor. It scared me."

"I didn't do anything.

"You were about to."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes you were!"

"AJ…"

"Don't front with me, Justin! I saw you! I know what you were about to do!" Anne-Jean screamed as she stood up.

"I didn't do anything."

"No, because I stopped you."

Justin stood up.

"You didn't stop me. You pushed me."

"I saved you!"

"Saved me from what? I didn't do anything!"

"Does this ugly-ass scar look like nothing to you?" she screamed as she grabbed her brother's left wrist, a long ugly gash stretching down from the balls of the wrist to middle of his arm.

Justin snapped his wrist out of his sister's arm.

"I didn't do that!"

"Then who did?"

"Who was the one who tackled me to the ground last night knocking me into the kitchen counter?"

"I wouldn't have had to tackle you if you weren't trying to kill yourself."

"I wasn't trying to kill myself!"

"I'm not stupid, Justin. You had a razor in your hand and held it mere inches above your wrist. I knew what you were about to do. Are you crazy?"

Justin grasped his head firmly.

"Dammit! This family is turning into some kind of weird freakish soap opera!"

"This isn't a soap opera, Justin. This is reality. You were telling me to wake up but you need to. This isn't some cartoon. You can't spring back to life once you're dead. You're not immortal."

"I didn't do anything!"

"You were about to!"

"But I didn't!"

"But you would've!"

"No, I wouldn't!"

"Justin…"

"I didn't go through with it, AJ."

"But would you have had I not been there to stop you?"

Tears streamed down Anne-Jean's face as she stared into her brother's eyes.

"Justin, I'm scared. When I saw you with that razor in your hand, I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. The first thing that came to my mind was to get you as far away from that blade as possible. Justin…I can't lose you. Do you know how this is affecting me knowing my brother is suicidal?"

"I'm not suicidal, Annie."

"How do you know that? After what you pulled last night, what am I supposed to think?"

Justin put his hand to his face as he felt his own tears well up in his eyes.

"I don't wanna lose you, Justy. I don't."

"You won't. Not by suicidal means."

"But…"

"Annie, I'm not suicidal. I don't know what happened last night, okay. I just…I just started thinking about Dad being in jail and Mom being in the hospital and how tired I was of everybody acting like none of this is happening and that everything's okay."

"So you try to kill yourself?"

"I wasn't trying to kill myself, Annie. I stopped and thought about it and I realized that that was wrong. I'm too young. I'm only thirteen and nobody said that Dad wouldn't get out of jail cause he will. It wasn't worth it. That's why I put the blade back but you shoved me before I had a chance to do it."

"That was scary, Justin."

Justin took a tissue and began wiping the tears from his little sister's eyes.

"Promise me you won't tell Mom."

Anne-Jean's eyes snapped opened.

"What?"

"Promise me you won't tell her. Or Granma, or Grandpa, or…"

"Are you crazy? I'm not keeping this from them!"

"C'mon, Annie…"

"You could have an infection!"

"Oh, c'mon the blade didn't cut me that deep."

"What? Are you even looking at your hand?"

"I'll get it patched up."

"How?"

"I don't know. I'll figure something out."

"How have you been hiding this from them anyway?"

"Same way I have been. Long-sleeved shirts inside, jacket and hoodie outside," he said, pulling the hood of his sweater over his head for emphasis.

Anne-Jean took it off as she looked him straight in his eyes.

"Are you serious?"

"Look, I've got it under control. It's no big. Don't worry about it. I just need you to promise that you won't tell anybody before I fix it."

"Justy…"

"Promise me."

After staring at him uneasily for a while, Anne-Jean conceded.

"Alright. Fine. I won't tell."

"Thank you."

"But you gotta promise me you'll get that thing fixed."

"I will."

Anne-Jean sighed as she sat heavily on her bed.

"So, now what?"

"Well, Granma's not gonna be back for a while since she took the twins to the park after visiting Mom."

Anne-Jean sighed.

"Poor Mommy. She's really being hit hard with this case."

"Got that right," Justin said as he folded his arms.

"Why would someone wanna hold her at gunpoint like that? She never did anything to anybody?"

Justin closed his eyes in thought until suddenly an idea struck him.

"Wait a minute. That's it!"

"What?"

"AJ, when's Daddy's next trial?"

"Three days."

Justin's eyes lit up.

"I got it! It all makes sense now."

"What?"

"Think about it, AJ. Dad's in jail, right?"

"Right."

"And Mom's trying to get him a lawyer."

"Right."

"Now, we both know Dad didn't murder this Ruoy whatever person the court's holding him against."

"You got that right. Daddy would never kill anybody. Aside from those alien people he told us about but it was never confirmed that they were dead."

"Focus, AJ! Since Daddy didn't do anything, he's obviously being framed."

"_Obviously_."

"So the person who's framing him wouldn't want there to be any _distractions_ to stop him from keeping Daddy in jail."

"…So that person probably sees Mommy as a distraction," Anne-Jean said, starting to get the gist of what her brother was saying.

"Exactly. So if Mommy's out of the picture…"

"The court would have to appoint Daddy a lawyer."

"And since Daddy's going to criminal court now…"

"He's not gonna get as much time to sit down with the lawyer to prove he's innocent!"

"Which would mean he'd lose the case…"

"And he'd stay in jail for a murder he didn't commit!"

Anne-Jean smiled.

"So the person who shot at Mommy two nights ago…"

"Is the same person who's trying to get Daddy in jail…"

"And the person who's trying to get Daddy in jail…"

"Is the person who's trying to frame him..."

"And the person who's trying to frame him…"

"Is the one who committed the murder!"

"Yes!" they screamed in unison, giving each other an enthusiastic high five.

"How'd we become so smart, little sis?"

"Because we're Stoppables with Possible blood."

"Nothing's Unstoppable?"

"Anything's Possible."

Justin began tousling his little sister's hair, which she immediately shoved away.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe it! We have a lead," Anne-Jean said after straightening her hair, "I'm gonna go call Granma and tell her.

Anne-Jean sprinted for the door but she didn't get very far since Justin grabbed her by her arm and spun her around.

"Whoa, whoa, AJ. We can't go tell Granma P now."

"Why not?"

"Because she's busy trying to keep the twins busy. Plus, she'd just take that information and use it against. She won't let us do anything."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, AJ. Remember when I said this is an adult situation and we're a part of it? Well, we've got some information and we could use it to our benefit. Now we can help."

"But we have to tell someone, Justin?"

Justin nodded his head.

"Yep. And we will."

"Who?"

"The one being on earth who knows Daddy better than Mom. Where's Rufus?"

A/N: Hey. Hope you guys enjoyed this chappy. Rufus is coming into the picture now and you kinda got some clues as to how Lawson got his ticket on Ron. But let me clear up the razor situation with Justin since I know you're probably confused and worried about that.

Since I'm planning on dropping some hints now about the murder and it's getting closer to the trial, there's probably going to be about 5-7, maybe 9, chapters left. So I'm cutting back on the drama-rama for right now. And the only reason the razor is mentioned is because it's going to appear in a fic that I'm planning on writing right after this (It's lighter, trust me. No more dark stories for right now.) So, here's what happened last night, as of the incident:

Justin and Anne-Jean had returned home from they're visit from seeing Kim in the hospital. While everyone's asleep at night, Justin goes down to the kitchen to wash his face since his sister was in the bathroom. Spotting one of Ron's razors on the counter, he picks it up, and looks at his left wrist. For a spit second, he considers doing the inevitable because he's overwhelmed with emotions, and holds the blade close to his wrist. But after calming himself down and thinking it over, he decides against it. He sighs and is about to put the blade back when he hears someone scream his name. He looks over to the kitchen entrance to see Anne-Jean standing there, stunned at what he was about to do.

Thinking quickly, Anne-Jean tackles Justin, and since the blade was still held close to his wrist, the suddenly impact of Anne-Jean's tackle caused Justin's arm to jerk forward, slitting his wrist and opening up a deep wound that stretched from the balls of his hand, to the middle of his arm, almost reaching his elbow. An ugly gash is formed on Justin's arm, leaving him scarred for life

This sounds _a lot_ worse than what the effects actually did. The wound looks worse than what it really is, and it _does_ and _will_ heal over time and it will only look like a minor scar. Nothing horrible will happen to Justin. He's not going to have an infection or anything like that. He'll just have a tan scar on his wrist that stretches down to the middle of his arm.

Whew, that was long. Anyway, that's what happened last night and the incident Anne-Jean was referring to.

Okay. I'm gonna go rest now. I'm _so_ tired. So please don't forget to review. And thank you for sticking with us!


	11. Chapter 11

Kim stood aghast at the woman she saw before her. Never did she think she would see her formal rival again.

"Bonnie?"

The tan skinned woman blinked several times as she continued to stare at the redhead before her.

"Kim?"

"Hi, Bonnie. Um, you may not know me but…" Was all Wade could get out before he was carelessly pushed aside by the surprised brunette.

"What are you doing here, Kim?"

"I don't know. What am I doing here, Wade!" she said, piercing her emerald green eyes through his brown ones.

"W-Well, Kim. Bonnie's the lawyer we looked up the internet and the one you said you wanted."

Kim eyes snapped opened.

"Bonnie's the lawyer we saw on the internet?"

"Uh, yeah? You would have saw my name there if you actually read it, K. You're not the only one who can be successful."

"I do not believe this," Kim began flouncing around.

"Believe it, Kim. Bonnie's the lawyer you wanted so desperately to meet."

"Why didn't you tell me _she_ was the one I would be seeing before we left Middleton?"

"I tried. But you wouldn't listen to me."

"I definitely would have listened to you if you brought her name up."

"Right here!" Bonnie said as she waved her hand.

"Well, I'm sorry we wasted so much gas coming over here. I'm an environmentalist, Wade. You know I don't like burning fuel when it's not absolutely necessary."

"Hello? Can we speed it along? I was right in the middle of something when you interrupted me," Bonnie said, taping her foot impatiently in her fuzzy slippers.

"Please, B. Tell me again why a working thirty two year old woman is dressed in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers at three o clock in the afternoon?"

"I'm on vacation! If I wanna sleep the whole day away, I can! I don't need fashion advice from the girl who wore an ugly lime green half-shirt and hideous capris for most of her high school year. I'm surprise the fashion police didn't write you a ticket."

"They were probably too busy humping your leg. Come on, Wade. Let's go," she said as she turned away from her seething rival.

Wade gave her a look.

"You're kidding right?"

"Does it look like I'm kidding?"

"Kim, we came all the way to Italy just so you could meet with Bonnie."

"I didn't know it was Bonnie I was meeting with. I'll find another lawyer for Ron."

"Come on, Kim. You're not being reasonable."

"Maybe not. But I know for a fact that I'm not going to be able to get anything done with Bonnie breathing down my neck."

"I don't need to take this. You two can get the hell off of my property! I didn't wake up this morning to be yelled at by history," Bonnie said slamming the door.

Wade went to Kim's side.

"Kim, please reconsider. Bonnie may not be the sweetest person out there…and she'll probably not be the easiest person to work with either but she's all we've got right now."

Kim just stared at her friend as he continued to speak.

"Come on, Kim. We don't have a lot of time left. Ron's next trial is coming up in a few days and since he didn't have a proper hearing, we don't have many options. Whoever is framing Ron is trying to make sure he stays in jail and right now, Bonnie's all we got."

Kim pursed her lips before sighing soon afterwards.

He was right.

This was about Ron and they didn't have many options left. If she was going to get him out of jail, then she was going to have to leave the past in the past and cooperate with Queen B.

Lord give her strength.

* * *

Justin lightly pressed his finger against his grandparents' doorbell as he and Anne Jean waited for them to answer. It had been several weeks since they had seen Granma and Grandpa Stoppable, since they were currently living with Granma and Grandpa P. For some reason the two Stoppable heads would not make themselves known ever since their son's case began. Whether they grieving over the fact that their son was in jail or just inadvertently isolated themselves from their family didn't matter. The two siblings were there for one reason only.

Justin forged a fake smile on his face as he saw his grandfather opened the door, staring his big surprised gray eyes at him. He nudged his sister to do the same.

"Hey Grandpa S. Sorry for just dropping by like this but AJ and I wanted to know if we could come in? We need to…pick up something."

Gene Stoppable said nothing as he continued to stare at his eldest grandchildren with a bewildered look.

"Justin? Annie? What are you two doing here? Aren't you supposed to be by Anne?" he said as he began looking around the house for no apparent reason.

Anne Jean spoke up.

"Well, yeah, we were staying at Granma P's house for a while but…we wanted to see you," she said sweetly.

Gene smiled.

"Well, well. Come in! Come in! I don't want you two to get a cold."

"Where's Granma S?" Anne Jean asked once they were inside.

"She went to the store to pick up a few supplies," Gene said as he closed the front door.

"Uh, Granpa S, may we uh, go upstairs for a little bit?"

"Oh sure! Sure! You two go right ahead. I'll just call your mother to let her know you're here."

"Granma P doesn't want anyone calling Mommy. She says she needs her rest," Anne Jean said as she joined her brother at the stairs.

"Oh. Uh, okay. Does she know you're here?"

"Oh, yes. She knows we're here. She's been keeping close tabs on us ever since this thing with Daddy began," she said in a syrupy voice.

Justin rolled his eyes.

"Uh, Grandpa S, is Rufus still…upstairs? Is he okay?"

"Rufus is in your father's old bedroom," Gene said as he made his way into the kitchen, "You kids want anything? I'm not much of a cook. In fact, after that kitchen fire in '07 I vowed never to cook again…"

"No thanks Granpa S. Justin and I ate before we left but thank you for offering," Anne Jean said in the sweetest little voice.

"You know, you could kill a guy with that syrupy voice of yours," Justin said as he opened the door to his father's old bedroom.

"You'd know, wouldn't you?"

Justin gave his sister a look as he began scanning the room for his father's best friend. It was hard for him to pick out anything since the place looked like it hadn't been cleaned since his father moved out. Clothes were all over the floor, paint was peeling off the wall, cobwebs were hanging from the walls, and dust was collecting on almost every piece of furniture in the room. The room was an ideal place for a Friday the 13th bash. They didn't know if they were exaggerating it or not but their father's once homey little bedroom was didn't seem as welcoming as it did a few months ago.

Justin eyes lit up when he spotted the glass cage that belonged to his father and supposedly had the aging Rufus in it. Several tubes were connected to the glass and stretched all over the room, mostly likely for him to get some exercise, but because of his slowly growing arthritis, it was unlikely he was in any of them.

He gently began stroking the top of his head. The naked mole rat began to shuffle a bit.

Justin petted him again.

"Hey, Rufus. Hey buddy."

A little squeak came from the little naked mole rat this time and he began to purr almost like a cat. He seemed happy at hearing a familiar voice.

Anne Jean scooped him up and cradled him in her arms.

"We haven't seen you since Grandpa and Granma S took you back. How are you?"

He gibbered on for a moment. Anne Jean understood him almost as well as Ron did, and Justin to lesser degree.

"Well it's great to see you again Rufus."

"Rufus, we need your help with something."

He just raised a tiny, almost non-existent eyebrow. Anne Jean spoke up.

"You see, Daddy's kinda…sorta in trouble.

"Hrk, huh?" Squeaked the little guy

"Well…Daddy's…kinda…sorta in jail."

Rufus' eyes darted back and forth while he wrung his little paws.

"But there's no need to panic, Rufus. Justy and I got a plan and it's sure to get Daddy out of jail."

Again, the naked mole rat raised an almost non-existent eyebrow.

"And we can only do it with your help," Justin added.

Rufus slapped his forehead. The offspring of the Mystical Monkey Master and the world famous heroine, not to mention the blood of the demented Shawn and the Tweebs ran through their veins. He knew he was getting himself into trouble.

* * *

Kim tapped her foot impatiently as she waited in the living room for Bonnie.

"Where is she?"

"She's probably getting dressed, Kim. I mean, she was in her bathrobe when we came over here," Wade said as typed some random things into the computer.

"She shouldn't be keeping us waiting like this."

"Come on, Kim. Just…"

"Wade if you say relax, I swear I will rip your lips right off your face."

"You sure that's not your hormones talking?"

Kim narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

It was then that Bonnie entered the living room—still in her bathrobe.

"What were you doing for so long?"

"My house, my time," she said, taking a seat on the ruby red loveseat.

Kim rolled her eyes as she took a seat next to Wade.

Bonnie growled.

"Did you just roll your eyes at me?"

"My eyes, B. I can roll them whenever I feel like it."

"Excuse me, but you are not gonna disrespect me in my own house."

"Nobody's disrespecting you, Bonnie."

"You so are! I don't understand how you're gonna come all the way to my house and…"

Bonnie was cut off as the sound of a door slamming upstairs was heard throughout the room. Moments later, a tanned slim man with short seal brown entered the living room. He was wearing nothing more than a towel, which was wrapped around his waist. If the fact that she was looking at a half naked man, who wasn't her husband, didn't horrify Kim, reality of who he was would.

Kim's mouth trembled as she stared slack-jawed at the man. Her voice cracked as she began to speak.

"Du?"

The man turned his head to face Kim and was almost as horrified as she was when he saw her.

"Mrs. Stoppable?"

"Will! I told you to wait in the bedroom!" Bonnie barked, gripping the sides of the couch as she spoke.

"I got thirsty."

Kim gawked at Bonnie.

"You mean…you and Du are…together?"

The still silence gave her her answer.

"Oh man, Wade. I don't know if I can do this."

"You can, Kim. You just…"

"What is this amateur doing over here?" Will said motioning over to her.

_Poof!_ Nerve hit.

"Excuse me?"

"She's here because she wants my help to bust that loser out of jail."

"Ron is not a damn loser, Bonnie!"

Will snapped his head over to her.

"I refuse to work with an amateur such as yourself, Mrs. Stoppable."

_Nerve snapping._

"I didn't ask for your help, Will. I was forced to ask Bonnie."

"You're lucky I'm even helping you as it is. I'm on vacation, K," Bonnie said as she crossed her legs.

"Why are you working with this amateur…"

"Will, if you call me an amateur one more time…"

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise."

"I have Global Justice on speed dial."

"Please, I'll call Betty myself and tell her."

Wade studied the page on the computer very carefully, almost squinting his eyes at the screen. He then opened up another window and typed in the plaintiff's name. His eyes bulged out of his head at what he had found.

"You are in no position to be making threats right now, Mrs. Stoppable," Will continued.

"Okay, you know what. Shut up, Will. Okay? Shut up. I'm not here to deal with you. I'm here to deal with Bonnie."

"Deal with? What do you mean deal with? You barge up to _my_ property, enter _my_ home, begging me to take your loser husband's case, when I'm _supposed _to be on vacation! And you're still disrespecting me? You really haven't much since high school, huh K?"

"And neither have you, B. But you know what, I'm trying to work things out for Ron."

"Loser-boy's in jail, K."

_Nerve snapping._

"I know that, B. That's why I'm here, asking you for your help."

"We don't help amateurs."

_Nerve snapping._

"Are you gonna stop calling me that?"

"That's what you are."

"You're an arrogant, conceited, condescending, patronizing snob but I don't flash it in your face every time."

Kim could see Will's lip curl up into a sneer.

"You know, Will. We don't need to take this. We can just kick this fashion-don't out so we can get back to doing more important things," Bonnie said as she wringed her hands.

"Go ahead, Bonnie. Kick me out so you can have someone else to spread your legs for."

"At least I have someone to spread my legs for. Where is your husband again?"

"Same place whore's like you end up."

"Get the fuck out of my house!" Bonnie screamed shooting out of her seat, her robe almost coming loose.

Snatching her purse, Kim started for the door.

"Let's go, Wade."

"What?"

"Let's go."

Wade shook his head.

"Kim no…we can't…"

"They don't want us here, Wade. And quite frankly, I don't want to be here either. I don't need that hussy…"

"Hussy?"

"Did I stutter?" Kim asked, looking pointy at Bonnie.

"Kim, you can't…"

"Wade, I'm leaving. Whether you come or not is your choice."

"Why hasn't she left yet?" Will said almost in disgust.

"I'm leaving."

"Saying and doing are two completely different things, K."

"You would know, right?"

"Stop it! Dammit! Stop it! All of you!" Wade bellowed, "Man, I can't believe how damn childish you guys are acting. You can't go five minutes without grabbing at each other's throats. I mean, what are you even arguing about? When someone says something hurtful to you, you do go below the belt! Yah'll are grown ass people. Act like it. This isn't about you. This is about Ron. The man is in jail and he wasn't even given a proper hearing. I mean, can you set aside your differences for him? For ten minutes? Please?"

Kim sighed quietly as she looked at her friend. He was right. This wasn't about her. If she wanted to get Ron out of jail before his next trial, she was really going to have to push herself to cooperate with Queen B and Du. Warily, she looked over to them. Bonnie sat they, steaming, probably thinking over what Wade was saying. Or majorly pissed off that Wade had called her childish. Will was standing, arms crossed, brow in a wrinkle, disdain obviously in his eyes.

This was what she had to work with.

Sighing, Kim let go of the door handle and went back to sit down.

"Thank you," Wade exhaled as he took his seat back at the desktop.

Will sucked his teeth.

"I'll go get dressed," he said as he started for the stairs.

"So Wade, did you find anything, while you were on the computer?"

"Yeah. I did…and…it's a little disturbing."

"Spill."

Wade winced as he looked back at the screen.

"Well, you know this Ruoy Imsesen person that they're charging Ron with?"

"Yeah?"

"He's dead."

Kim made a rude sound.

"Yeah, I think we already covered that part when they took Ron away, Wade."

"No. I mean, he's been dead. For three years."

* * *

Anne Jean pressed her finger on her friend's doorbell for the eighth time.

"AJ, get off the bell. I'm sure he's gonna answer it," Justin said as gently put Rufus in his pocket.

"He doesn't usually take this long," she said as she rung it again."

Suddenly, the door swung open. A boy with blue-grey eyes and shoulder-length chestnut brown hair was at the door.

"Stoppables? Man, why are you laying on my bell like that? You nearly gave my mom a heart attack.

"We need your help, Jesse."


	12. Chapter 12

Jesse sighed as he took a seat at the desktop computer in his room.

"What do you need my help with?"

AJ began fiddling with the camera on top of his desktop while Justin stretched out on the bed.

"You know how they arrested my father a few months ago because they believed he killed this Ruoy Ime…something guy?"

"Yeah, it was all over the news. _Time_ magazine just released a tabloid about Ron Stoppable being Ron Stompable," he said showing the magazine with his friend's father wearing sunglasses and a strange blue suit while putting his hand towards the camera, "Don't tell me that's what this whole visit is about?"

"We have a lead," AJ said with a smile.

Jesse seemed amused.

"What kind of lead?"

"We found out that the person who shot a bullet through our a few days ago, is the same person who put our daddy in jail, which is the same person who is framing him, who is the same person who committed the actual murder!" Anne Jean nearly screamed with excitement as she delivered the last line.

Jesse leaned on one fist, lazily looking at his best friend.

"AJ…that's not a lead."

"What do you mean it's not a lead? Of course it's a lead! It has to be!"

"It's not a lead, AJ. You don't have anyone to match the information up to. You don't have a hint as to what or who the suspect could be. All you have is a tiny piece of information that might be helpful if you match the right person up with this theory."

AJ's heart sank.

"But…we brought Rufus."

At this, the little naked mole rat popped out of Justin's pocket and offers an excited 'Hi' to his human's offspring's best friend.

"I'm sorry AJ, but you guys really have nothing. I mean, if you had a person to match it up to…"

"We were thinking it was that lawyer who was representing that dead guy and put Mommy in the hospital…" AJ said, holding on to that little bit of hope that they could still do something.

"Do you have any proof?"

"Well…no…but…"

"Then you can't match them up. You're assuming. You never wanna assume, AJ. This will basically be a hunch and you don't want that. You're going off information that hasn't been proven yet but because you have a strong feeling that this person is the culprit, you're gonna turn them in and you don't have any facts. The person may actually be innocent and you may end up burning yourself, AJ."

"So what? He did it to our dad. Turnabout's fair play."

"Two wrongs don't make a right."

"But three rights make a left," Justin sat up, wearing a huge smile on his face.

"This is funny to you? Justin, this isn't funny! You said we had a lead!"

"We do have a lead."

"Based on what you're giving me, you don't have much of anything guys," Jesse glanced back at his computer screen.

Justin hopped off the bed and joined his sister at the computer, putting Rufus on his shoulder.

"Well, I didn't give you what I found yet. AJ, remember when I was in the kitchen about to do you-know-what?"

"Yeah, so?" She shuffled a little bit as she recalled that horrific image in her mind.

"Well, I found a strand of hair before I went to bed that night."

"You found a piece of hair in the kitchen? Justin that could belong to anyone." AJ said.

"Not true. I didn't find it in the kitchen. I found it in the living room. Those detectives may not have been as well kept as we thought. They left some evidence behind."

"Do you have it with you?" Jesse asked.

Justin reached into his back pocket, pulling out a small plastic baggy that contained several hair samples and shards of glass.

"They left all that behind?"

"Kinda makes you wonder how much trust you should put into these guys."

Jesse took the bag and examined it.

"You didn't touch any of this did you?"

"Yes, Jesse. I touched a piece of evidence that could actually reveal who framed my father and let the end result turn out to be me because my fingerprints will show up in court."

"Okay, okay. I was just asking," He said as he put the plastic baggy on his desk.

"So how…or maybe I should say why, do I fit in to all of this?"

Justin took the liberty of answering his friend's question.

"We want you to analyze this stuff. See if we can match the DNA up to that lawyer."

"Aren't those detectives your grandmother hired already doing that?"

"That could take weeks, Jesse! We need this stuff analyzed now!"

"Why did you come to me?"

"Because…you're like our little Wade…" AJ said sweetly.

Jesse's left eyebrow arched slightly.

"What?"

"Come on, Jesse. You know all about this computer stuff." Justin said.

"But I'm not a genius. I didn't graduate from college in six months under the age of ten like your uncle."

"Come on, Jesse. You're our only hope right now. We can't really do much since the adults keep looking at AJ and me like we're about to do something mischievous."

"Isn't that what you're doing?"

"For a good cause."

"Please, Jesse. You got the books and the brains. You can do this," AJ's bottom lip began to peek out she flashed her mother's little pout.

Jesse sucked his teeth.

"Come on, AJ. That's not fair! Justin, talk to your sister." He looked over to his friend's brother, but alas, he was flashing that infamous little pout as well. Even Rufus joined in, his big brown eyes becoming as large as saucers as he gave him the same look he gave Kim when he wanted to go to JP Bearymore's.

Jesse sighed.

"You know every time I help you guys it means a boatload of trouble for me?"

"That's the price you have to pay when you're best friends are the offspring of Team Stoppable," Justin said proudly.

"So you're gonna do it?" AJ asked.

"Do I have a choice?"

Justin and AJ glanced at each other for a moment before turning back to their friend.

"No." They said in unison.

* * *

Rarely anything spooked Kim Stoppable. She fought a highly trained villainess almost frequently. She escaped self-destructed labs without batting an eye. And even though she was surprised by the crashing of her high school graduation, she was composed throughout most of the alien invasion. But Kim had to give her friend the funniest look as her brain still tried to process what he had just said.

"What did you say, Wade?"

The computer genius sighed heavily as he turned his attention back to the computer.

"This Ruoy Imsesen person that the court is charging Ron with has been dead for three years."

Kim shook her head.

"How's that possible? The coroner said that he was killed four months ago. They even buried him while Ron was in jail."

"Then you might wanna take a look at this Kim," He opened up a window on the computer. Both Kim and Bonnie joined him at the desk.

"What's this, Wade?"

"Seems this Ruoy person was a member of the Green Party organization. He went to Europe on a business trip three years ago. And on the day he was supposed to return home, he collapsed when he was on his way to the airport. He died of a heart attack."

Kim quickly skimmed through the lines of what Wade was reading.

"Wade, where did you get this?"

"From his file. I tapped into his private blog. The amount of security he had almost crashed my computer."

"_Your_ computer?" Bonnie's voice hung over the word 'your.'

Ignoring her, Wade continued.

"He also has an online diary, like you do Kim. Only, his is more private, with a lot more security settings, like on his blog. It took me like thirty minutes to crack the code."

"But Wade, that would mean the coroner was wrong about his death."

Will returned back downstairs, wearing his standard Global Justice uniform, causing his 'girlfriend' to scowl.

"I thought you told me you threw that thing out?"

"I said no such thing, Rockwaller. I merely…"

"I told you to stop calling me that and to address me by my first name!"

"Minding here?" Kim shot the couple a look.

"I was able to lock into a few of the entries he wrote in his diary," Wade said as he pulled up the page. Kim began reading it.

_May 16th 2022,_

_The committee has decided to nominate me as the 2022 Presidential nominee at the National Convention. Words can't describe how honored I am to be presented on such a high pedestal. Along with seven other candidates, I will be competing for the title. My peers have decided yet again to hold the three-hour debate in San Francisco tomorrow morning. Why they are so fond of that city I don't know. This newfound information has caused me to think of home. It has been many months since I seen my loved ones. My dear wife, Melissa, I am oh so anxious to see you again. To hold you and our daughter again. I know you will be elated once I tell you the news. Melissa. Only a couple more months, my love. A couple more months, and I'll be home._

_July 6th 2022,_

_Something's…not right. No, something's wrong. Very, very wrong. This strange feeling of being targeted. This…feeling of being pursued. I feel like I'm being watched. Is it my anxiety? Is it the pain killers I have been taking? Why do I feel as though I'm lapsing out of reality? That reality itself…is fading away? Why do I feel that my time on this Earth…is coming to an end?_

_August 23rd 2022,_

_Death. The death angel comes for me. He follows me as I leave this apartment. He follows me as I return. I feel uneasy. I feel scared. Death cannot claim me! Not yet! Am I losing my reason? Am I going insane? What is happening? I feel small, inadequate. I stopped taking the medication I was prescribed. But…I hear voices. Voices screaming at me. Commanding me. I'm not at ease! No, I'm not! I want to go home! I want to go home now! To my loved ones! To my friends! I take the early flight in the morning. This…what I feel…I'm being beaten. Beaten by the fiery pits of hell. It plans to swallow me, taking me to its heated land of the perished. _

The three entries were more than disturbing to Kim. The man went from being excited about his recent position, to being paranoid about life itself.

"It's like he knew he was going to die," Kim said once she found her voice.

"That's not the only disturbing thing, Kim. These entries were made three years ago. And that August one was the last entry he made." Wade said as he began reading the passages again.

"That, is just creepy." Bonnie sat back on the couch and crossed her legs. Will decided not to offer any comment, probably because he was too stunned to do anything.

"Wade, how could his family not know about this? Why would they be pinning Ron for murder if this guy died three years ago?"

"I don't know. That's the odd thing about it. There's no way they could have seen these entries since they're hidden from the public. I almost gave up hacking into it when this window popped up."

"This is nonsense," Will finally spoke up, "If you were able to find this information in a day, then it's obvious it's a fake. Anyone could have looked this up."

"Everyone's not a computer genius, Will," Kim continued to look at the computer. She could have sworn she caught something within the victim's name.

"Wade, remember that game Ron and I used to play when we were younger? When we used to rearrange the letters in a sentence and make new ones?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I think I can see something in this guy's name but I don't know. You think you can try to move the words around and make a new one?"

"I'll do better than that. I can get this computer to give me all the possible words that can be formed by rearranging the letters."

He began typing Ruoy's first name into the computer. The results were shown on the screen.

"Your? That can't be the only possibility?"

"It is if you want the word to make sense," Wade began typing in Ruoy's last name.

A few words appeared under 'Imsesen', but the one that caught the Kim and Wade's attention, was the one that stuck out when combined with the previous word. That little phrase caused the four people in the room to freeze in place as they read it to themselves.

_Your Nemesis_


End file.
